System and method for enhancing buyer and seller interaction during a group-buying sale

ABSTRACT

A method and system are provided that enable buyers and sellers to communicate with each other and to negotiate the purchase terms of featured merchandise in a group-buying opportunity. Sellers and buyers may use various forms of on-line group-buying mechanisms in conjunction with the negotiation features of the invention. Buyers may send various inquiries to sellers regarding merchandise offered for sale through the online group-buying sale. Sellers may respond to buyer questions and queries, and in some instances, sellers may communicate instructions to the on-line group-buying mechanism to alter the course of an on-line group-buying sale in progress, e.g., a further reduction in price. The method and system further provides a mechanism for calculating a demand curve based on received buyer offers and applying the demand curve to an on-line group-buying sale.

RELATED APPLICATION INFORMATION

The present application is a divisional application of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 12/051,351, “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ENHANCING BUYERAND SELLER INTERACTION DURING A GROUP-BUYING SALE,” naming Tom Van Horn,Dale A. Woodford, Richard V. Halbert, and Kevin Dean Wampler as theinventors, filed Mar. 19, 2008; which application is a divisionalapplication of U.S. Ser. No. 09/596,921, “SYSTEM AND METHOD FORENHANCING BUYER AND SELLER INTERACTION DURING A GROUP-BUYING SALE,”naming Tom Van Horn, Dale A. Woodford, Richard V. Halbert, and KevinDean Wampler as the inventors, filed Jun. 19, 2000, now U.S. Pat. No.7,363,246, issued Apr. 22, 2008; the present application claims thebenefit of priority dates of the above-listed applications, theentireties of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention relates to the expansion of group-buying overelectronic networks, such as the Internet, through a negotiationfacility that allows greater communication among individual buyers andbetween buyers and merchandise sellers in conjunction with group-buyingsales. Embodiments of the invention, which may interact with an on-linegroup-buying mechanism that aggregates buyer demand for merchandise,provide enhanced, real-time communication among the members of buyinggroups and among aggregated buyers and sellers.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

As shown in FIG. 1, a conventional store 100 is simply a collection ofproducts 120. As shown in FIG. 2, a mall 240, of course, is a collectionof stores 100. In the traditional retail environment, the buyers (orconsumers) 160 have had to come to the seller's pre-selected andpre-priced collection of products 120 in order to make a purchase.

BENEFITS OF THE INVENTION

An on-line group-buying mechanism 380, such as that shown in FIG. 3,transforms the point of sale from a collection of products 120 into acollection of buyers 160. The on-line group-buying mechanism 380 furtherpermits the formation of buyer groups across any number of electronicnetwork sites (e.g., the Internet) linked to the electronic presence ofa business entity implementing such a mechanism.

By creating a means to globally aggregate a large number of buyers inone place at one time, the on-line group-buying mechanism 380 may enablea significant shift in power from the seller(s) of goods and services tothe buyer(s) of those goods and services. For example, on-linegroup-buying mechanisms 380 often enable buyers to achieve volumediscounts in purchase price. In addition, rather than requiring buyersto choose between sellers' pre-selected and unilaterally pre-pricedmerchandise, as is the case with conventional on-line and off-linestores, some embodiments of on-line group-buying mechanisms 380 permitbuyers to join together to influence which products sellers offer forsale and further allow each buyer to establish his or her own maximumprice at which he or she is willing to purchase a featured item.

Buyers may be further empowered by certain other features of the on-linegroup-buying mechanism 380. Some embodiments of on-line group-buyingmechanisms 380 permit buyers and potential buyers to increase salesvolume (and further reduce prices) by posting messages to otherpotential buyers, such as on merchandise-specific message boards and ine-mail messages to people the buyer or potential buyer knows who mightbe interested in joining the buying group. In this way, every buyer orpotential buyer may help the buying group attain optimal buying power.In addition, the methods through which some on-line group-buyingmechanisms permit buyers to influence which products, brands, andservices will be offered in future buying groups, may in some casesenable groups of buyers to create viable markets around particularfeatured items.

Other advantages of on-line group-buying mechanisms are discussed in arelated pending, commonly owned application filed Mar. 15, 1999 in thenames of Tom Van Horn, Niklas Gustafsson and Dale Woodford, entitled“Demand Aggregation Through Online Buying Groups,” U.S. application Ser.No. 09/270,219, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated byreference.

In some instances, on-line group-buying mechanisms 380 may provide onlya limited ability for individual or aggregated buyers to negotiateelectronically with sellers regarding merchandise features, price andother matters relevant to a given purchase. While individual buyersparticipating in an on-line group-buying sale may influence the purchaseprice of a featured item simply by joining a buying group (and therebyadding incremental volume to support a further price discount), thebuyers may not have the ability to negotiate price, merchandisefeatures, or other matters relevant to a given purchase directly withthe seller(s) at or near the point of sale. Similarly, sellers may nothave a means to respond in real time to buyer questions about featuredmerchandise or the ability to persuade an audience of buyers (e.g., avirtual buyer audience) why its featured item is superior to competingbrands. Accordingly, in some instances, aggregating buyer demand in thesale of a featured item, especially over an electronic network, may behindered from attaining its full potential if buyers and sellers cannoteffectively communicate with one another to discuss merchandise featuresand negotiate prices.

Embodiments of the invention may make an on-line group-buying mechanismmore effective by creating live, real-time interactions among buyers andsellers to enable buyers and sellers to discuss merchandise features,competing products and relevant prices during the course of thegroup-buying opportunity. Embodiments of the invention thus provide amethod and apparatus to encourage and enable all buyers interested in aparticular featured item during a given time frame to communicate withinthe buying group formed to accomplish the desired purchase in order tohelp optimize the potential bargain for both buyers and sellers.

Embodiments of the invention may empower buyers by further enablingindividual buyers and potential buyers to discuss featured items andsales prices with each other and to negotiate the purchase terms of suchfeatured items with the sellers. Such negotiations may benefit buyers byleading to lower prices, additional merchandise features, and/or betterdeals. Embodiments of the invention also provide a method and apparatusthat allows real-time communications among buyers which may enhance eachbuyer's and potential buyer's opportunities to increase the level ofbuyer participation within a given buying group (e.g., to increasebuying power of the group), as well as possibly defining the particularfeatured item ultimately to be purchased by the group by persuadingother buyers of the desirability of particular features, extendedwarranty coverage or the like. In addition, the enhanced communicationsamong buyers made possible by the invention may permit buyers to quicklyand efficiently form subgroups of similarly situated buyers based onalternative merchandise or available purchasing options (e.g., a buyercould poll other interested buyers to help establish a market around hisown preference for the addition of a particular accessory to be soldwith the featured item). Embodiments of the invention may further allowbuyers to more quickly and easily initiate the formation of any numberof special interest groups, and may significantly enhance the ability ofbuyers to join together and define common interests sufficient to createa market for a particular product or service that would be of interestto a product manufacturer or service provider. These and otherembodiments of the invention may enhance the sense of communitysometimes associated with the group-buying experience.

The negotiations between buyers and sellers enabled by the invention mayalso provide significant benefits to sellers. First, the ability tocommunicate directly with an audience of interested buyers at or nearthe point of sale may enable sellers to increase sales by makingknowledgeable and effective pricing and product offering choices in realtime based on the specific preferences and sensitivities expressed bythe group. In addition, the ability to answer questions and respond tobuyer misconceptions about a featured item at or near the point of salemay increase sales and improve overall customer satisfaction with theseller and its merchandise. Finally, the sellers' interaction withbuyers and potential buyers permitted by the invention may providesellers with a new way to test-market merchandise and better understandthe motivations underlying purchasing behavior of their customers.

Other ways in which this invention provides unique benefits to buyersand sellers and on-line businesses are set forth in various parts ofthis document below.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Definitions

Buyer—a person who participates in an on-line group-buying sale, such asa buyer who accesses an on-line group-buying mechanism from anoperator's main site or from a Partner site, and including prospectivebuyers.

Display—to show visually or audibly a featured item offered in anon-line group-buying sale, such as a Partner site providing a link to apage on the operator's main site. A page is typically a specific portionof the totality of the operator's main site and does not necessarilyrefer to any particular method of displaying the page to a viewer/buyer.Of course, the featured item may be displayed on any type of displaydevice, including a computer monitor, a telephone, a portable computer,a pager, and a television.

Electronic Network—an electronic communication medium across whichsellers and buyers may communicate. Representative electronic networksinclude the Internet, intranets, the public switched telephone network(“PSTN”), wireless voice and data networks, and television networks,such as satellite, broadcast, cable television, and two-way interactivecable. Electronic networks further include hybrid systems, such as thosein which sellers communicate to buyers via one medium, such as cabletelevision, and buyers communicate to sellers via another medium, suchas the Internet. Electronic networks additionally include aggregatedelectronic networks, such as when buyers communicate to sellers viamultiple media, such the Internet, the telephone, and cable television.

Featured Item—a product or service, or groups of products and services,offered for sale in an on-line group-buying sale. Services may includeany type of service, such as product service agreements, one-timeservices like vacations, and semi-permanent services, such as janitorialservices. Featured Items may also include a bundle of products/services,such as a DVD player, a case, an extended warranty, one-year theftinsurance, and two free DVDs. For bundled featured items, demandaggregation in an on-line buying group need not necessarily arise onspecific items in the bundle or identical purchases of the full bundlebut may also arise in a piecemeal fashion via purchases of individualitems or subsets of items within the bundle, which may potentiallyincrease the volume discount on any or all items within the bundleand/or purchases of the bundle as a whole.

Flash Demand Curve—A demand curve principally associated with an on-linegroup-buying sale conducted in a negotiating room. A flash demand curvetypically allows a seller to receive real-time data updated continuouslyor at intervals (e.g., at 5-minute increments) or upon user request thatshows the demand for a featured item based on irrevocable ornon-irrevocable purchase offers from prospective buyers participating inan ongoing group-buying sale for a featured item. A flash demand curvemay also be known as an instantaneous offer curve since in someembodiments, the flash demand curve may be produced from received offersfrom buyers and prospective buyers. In some embodiments, a flash demandcurve differs from a conventional demand curve in that the flash demandcurve is not necessarily comprised of irrevocable offers. In addition,in some embodiments, a flash demand curve comprises offers collected ina short time interval and/or during an ongoing sale and/or from aspecific set of prospective buyers. The short time interval for a flashdemand curve may provide sellers with highly accurate data regarding thedemand for the featured item among the buyers associated with an on-linegroup-buying sale at the instance of the sale and/or prior to the actualsale, allowing sellers to react to such information by potentiallyaltering (e.g., lowering) prices and/or by adding additional merchandiseor accessories to compete with other sellers.

Negotiating Room—a facility configured to allow at least one seller andat least one buyer to communicate with each other via electronicnetworks about a featured item associated with an on-line group-buyingsale. The communications between the seller(s) and buyer(s) may beconducted in a variety of formats, even during the same on-linegroup-buying sale. In a preferred embodiment, the negotiating room is avirtual facility in which buyers accessing an on-line group-buying salevia multiple platforms across an electronic network may negotiate thespecific terms of a purchase with at least one seller. For example, thenegotiating room may use chat room formats, such as auditorium or stageroom chat formats. As an ordinarily skilled artisan will recognize, thenegotiating room may also comprise a hybrid system that combines aspectsof a virtual facility with a physical facility, e.g., some buyers couldaccess a seller from a studio audience equipped with electronic pollingand/or offer capabilities, while other buyers join the same buying groupby accessing the same seller via computers, telephones, and portablecomputers, personal digital assistants, and hand-held computers.

Negotiating Room On-Line Group-Buying Sale—an on-line group-buying saleconducted using negotiating room tools and typically lasting for ashorter time duration than an on-line group-buying sale and withpossibly fewer buyer participants. Any online group-buying sale maybenefit from the communication and negotiating tools discussed herein,but a negotiating room on-line group-buying sale uses the speed andcommunications synergies provided by a negotiating room to effect anon-line group-buying sale rich in communications content. While on-linegroup-buying sales may include non-binding, revocable offers and buyerpolling (e.g., voting), such activities are typically much more commonin a negotiating room on-line group-buying sale. Negotiating roomon-line group-buying sales may also include alterations of the initialfeatured item set; e.g., the sale may start with one item and laterinclude a somewhat different although probably related set of featureditems. While the negotiating room online group-buying sale may beconducted using a variety of formats, a seller/merchant/operator may usea negotiating room on-line group-buying sale as a tool for collectinghighly accurate, up-to-date demand data from a potentially small butrepresentative buyer group and then apply the demand data collected toone or more larger on-line group-buying sales being conductedconcurrently and or in relatively close time proximity. While anegotiating room on-line group-buying sale could be conducted for anytime period, a typical negotiating room on-line group-buying sale isconducted for a shorter time duration than an on-line group-buying sale(e.g., 1 hour versus 3 days.)

On-Line Group-Buying Mechanism—an apparatus configured to conduct anonline group-buying sale. The on-line group-buying mechanism may beincluded in a Partner Site, an operator's Main Site, and a Seller site,for example, and/or have portions of its functionality split and/orshared between various sites. An on-line group-buying mechanismtypically comprises a particular configuration of hardware and softwareneeded to accomplish an on-line group-buying sale over an electronicnetwork. Of course, an ordinarily skilled artisan will recognize thatmodifications may be made to the precise form of the on-linegroup-buying mechanisms described herein while still remaining withinthe scope of an on-line group-buying mechanism.

On-Line Group-Buying Sale—a method of selling products and servicesusing an on-line group-buying mechanism. A PowerBuy™ group purchaserepresents a preferred on-line group-buying sale, although PowerBuys™group purchases and their variants represent merely one type of on-linegroup-buying sale. An exemplary on-line group-buying sale is describedmore completely below.

Operator—the party owning or having a license to the right to operate anon-line group-buying mechanism and/or facilitating on-line group-buyingmechanism displays on Partner sites. For example, the operator may bethe operator of the invention described herein and the relatedinventions cross-referenced herein, or a licensee of such operator.

Operator's Main Site—a computer-operated location, such as a website, onwhich an on-line group-buying mechanism resides. For purposes of atleast one embodiment of the invention, this site is an operator's siteon which the PowerBuy™ method of sales is being practiced in accordancewith the commonly assigned inventions referred to herein. An ordinarilyskilled artisan will recognize that the on-line group-buying mechanismplatform may provide a virtual presence only, with a substantial portionof the actual computing power driving the on-line group-buying mechanismsales method located elsewhere. In addition, embodiments of theinvention are not limited to a single operator's main site. Embodimentsof the invention are not limited to websites and/or communications usingHTTP and may include computer-operated locations such as cable TV,digital interactive cable, etc.

Partner Site—any third-party owned or operated location, such as awebsite, within an electronic network, such as the Internet, that hasbeen configured to display one or more on-line group-buying sales attheir network location or website. The universe of partner sitespotentially could encompass an entire electronic network such as theInternet and/or a channel(s) of a cable television network and/orwireless voice and data networks. However, it is expected that certainnetwork locations or websites would be barred from participation forvarious reasons, e.g., inappropriate content. Of course, partner sites,seller sites, and/or an operator's site may be combined into onewebsite.

PowerBuy™—a business method and its variants in which buyers wishing topurchase a particular product or service, or group of products andservices, within a given time frame join forces in a buying group formedacross an electronic network specifically to pursue or accomplish adesired purchase. The buying group potentially enables individual buyersto leverage their combined purchasing power to achieve an economicbargain superior to that attainable by any one buyer acting alone. Asuperior bargain for buyers may often be reflected in terms of a lowerpurchase price. For example, as more buyers join the buying group, thedesired item's price typically declines. At the end of the purchaseperiod, all successful buyers (i.e., those with offers at or above thefinal PowerBuy™ price) purchase the item at a final (low) price even ifsome buyers have submitted irrevocable offers specifying a price ceilinghigher than the final (low) price. In some embodiments, the operator maycomplete the sales transaction with each buyer by accepting offers at orabove the final price, charging each successful buyer's credit card atthe time the purchased featured item is shipped to the buyer. In otherembodiments, the operator may not complete purchase transactionsdirectly with the buyers but may instead refer irrevocable and revocablepurchase offers (or other expressions of interest in the featured item)to a partner or third-party seller who may then complete individualbuyer transactions within the buying group by accepting any desirableirrevocable purchase offers and/or pursuing buyers' expressions ofinterest in a featured item.

Seller—a manufacturer, retailer, wholesaler, or other party offering atleast one featured item for sale to consumers, businesses or otherbuyers via the on-line group-buying sale, such as a PowerBuy™. Theoperator and its partners may be sellers in some embodiments of theinvention.

Voting Mechanism—Embodiments of the invention may use a voting mechanismto receive offers from buyers and to calculate a flash demand curveusing the offers. Embodiments of the voting mechanism may also receivebuyer responses in an on-line group-buying sale (e.g., a negotiatingroom on-line group-buying sale) in which the buyers have been asked tovote on some matter pertaining to a featured item, e.g.; “How manypeople would be willing to wait two weeks for delivery in exchange for a$20 reduction in price?” Embodiments of the voting mechanism may alsoassist an operator and/or seller representative establish consensusamong a group of interested buyers and/or define relevant subgroups ofbuyers. Sample pricing votes (e.g., revocable offers) may also be takenusing embodiments of the voting mechanism. The voting mechanism maytally both irrevocable votes and offers as well as non-binding votes andoffers. Embodiments of the voting mechanism may be configured to provideresults to operators, seller's representatives, and other interestedparties, e.g., in some configurations, a seller may be allowed to viewresults for all sellers while in other configurations, a seller may beallowed to only view results for its own featured item. In any event,embodiments of the voting mechanism may be configured to collect bothbinding and non-binding responses from the buyers. Embodiments of thevoting mechanism may present the results in the form of a graph,although other displays are possible. Embodiments of the votingmechanism may be produced in software, hardware, and in hybridhardware/software systems. Of course, embodiments of the votingmechanism may be configured to calculate only the flash demand curveand/or only tally votes received from buyers.

SUMMARY DESCRIPTION

Embodiments of the invention also provide a method for communicatinginformation between a first seller and buyers in a negotiating roomassociated with an online group-buying sale having a first featureditem. The method comprises inviting the buyers to the negotiating roomwherein the negotiating room provides support for communications aboutthe on-line group-buying sale among the buyers and the first seller. Themethod may further include receiving an initial price for the featureditem from the first seller and initiating the on-line group-buying salefor the first featured item after receiving the initial price from thefirst seller. Buyer communications may be transmitted to the firstseller via the negotiating room wherein at least some of thecommunications contain offers for the featured item at various prices.The method may further include producing a first flash demand curve forthe first featured item using the at least some of the communicationsthat contain offers for the first featured item. The first flash demandcurve may be provided to the first seller; and a modified price for thefirst featured item may be received from the first seller.

Embodiments of the invention provide a method for filteringcommunications between buyers and sellers in an on-line group-buyingsale for a featured item. The method may comprise, for example,receiving filtering instructions for communications relating to thefeatured item in the on-line group-buying sale and setting a messagereceiver to process buyer communications in accordance with thefiltering instructions. The method may further comprise receiving buyercommunications pertaining to the featured item during the on-linegroup-buying sale and filtering the received buyer communicationsthrough the message receiver in accordance with the filteringinstructions.

Embodiments of the invention also provide a method for allowing buyersand at least one seller to communicate about at least one featured itemoffered in an on-line group-buying sale. The method comprises receivinga buyer communication from a buyer of the buyers regarding the featureditem and transmitting the buyer communication to a seller representativeassociated with the featured item. The seller representative maycomprise a utility that permits the at least one seller to communicateto the buyer. The method further comprises receiving a response from theseller representative to the buyer communication; and transmitting theresponse to the buyer.

Embodiments of the invention also provide a method for determining aflash demand curve for a featured item offered by a seller in an on-linegroup-buying sale. The method comprises receiving an initial price forthe featured item from the seller and initiating the on-linegroup-buying sale for the featured item after receiving the initialprice from the seller. Offers for the featured item may be received frombuyers wherein the received offers include prices equal to or less thanthe initial price. An instruction may be received to determine the flashdemand curve after the initiation of the on-line group-buying sale.Embodiments of the method further comprise constructing the flash demandcurve by plotting received offers on a graph according to price andquantity of offers received at each price; and transmitting the flashdemand curve to the seller.

Embodiments of the invention also provide a method for allowing buyersand at least one seller to communicate about at least one featured itemoffered in an on-line group-buying sale. The method comprises receivinga buyer communication regarding the featured item and transmitting thebuyer communication to a seller representative associated with thefeatured item. A portion of the buyer communication may be retained in adata repository wherein the data repository is configured to allowreview of the communication portion by at least another buyer. Aresponse may be received from the seller representative to the buyercommunication. A portion of the seller representative's response may bein the data repository wherein the data repository is configured toallow review of the communication portion by at least another buyer.Instructions from the seller representative may be transmitted to anon-line group-buying mechanism hosting the on-line group-buying salewherein the instructions alter a price of the featured item offered inthe on-line group-buying sale.

Embodiments of the invention also provide a computer-implementednegotiating room system for communicating information between sellersand buyers associated with an on-line group-buying sale having afeatured item. The negotiating room may include a message receiver andtransmitter configured to receive buyer communications and send thebuyer communications to the seller. A seller representative may beconfigured to assist the seller in reviewing and responding to buyercommunications and further configured to send seller instructions to anon-line group-buying mechanism hosting the on-line group-buying sale. Anoutgoing message transmitter may be configured to receive communicationsfrom the seller and transmit the communications to the buyers.

Embodiments of the invention also provide a system for determiningdemand for a featured item offered in an on-line group-buying sale by atleast one seller. An on-line group-buying mechanism may be configured toconduct the on-line group-buying sale for the featured item. A messagereceiver and transmitter may be configured to receive buyercommunications wherein at least some of the buyer communications containoffers for the featured item. A voting mechanism may be configured toreceive the offers from the message receiver and transmitter andcalculate a flash demand curve using the offers. An operatorrepresentative may be configured to provide the flash demand curve tothe at least one seller.

Embodiments of the invention also provide a system for selling featureditems offered by a seller to buyers. A negotiating room may beconfigured to sell the featured items using an on-line group-buying salewherein the negotiating room includes a voting mechanism configured tocalculate at least one flash demand curve for the featured items usingoffers received from the buyers. An on-line group-buying mechanism maybe configured to sell the featured items using a sale demand curvedeveloped from the at least one flash demand curve.

Embodiments of the invention also provide a system for filteringcommunications during negotiations between buyers and a seller in anon-line group-buying sale for a featured item. A message receivercontroller may be configured to receive instructions from the sellerwherein the instructions pertain to setting a message receiver andtransmitter to process buyer communications. A message receiver andtransmitter may be configured to receive buyer communications pertainingto the featured item during the on-line group-buying sale. A sellerrepresentative may be configured assist the seller in process receivedbuyer communications.

Embodiments of the invention further provide a data processing systemthat provides communications between buyers and a seller during anon-line group-buying sale for a featured item. The data processingsystem includes negotiating room software executable on the dataprocessing system and is configured to transmit communications from thebuyers to the seller wherein at least some of the communications containoffers for the featured item. The data processing system is furtherconfigured to produce a flash demand curve for the featured item usingthe offers for the featured item and also configured to provide theflash demand curve to the seller.

Embodiments of the invention also provide a data processing system thatdetermines demand for a featured item during an on-line group-buyingsale. The data processing system includes negotiating room softwareexecutable on the data processing system and is configured to initiate afirst on-line group-buying sale wherein the first online group-buyingsale is conducted in association with buyers and a seller. The dataprocessing system is further configured to produce at least one flashdemand curve for the featured item using offers received from the buyersof the first on-line group-buying sale. The data processing isconfigured to provide the flash demand curve to the seller wherein theseller uses the at least one flash demand curve to create a sale demandcurve for the featured item. The data processing system is alsoconfigured to initiate a second on-line group-buying sale of thefeatured item using the sale demand curve.

Embodiments of the invention also provide a computer-readable datatransmission medium containing a data structure. The data structurecomprises a first portion that specifies a featured item in an on-linegroup-buying sale, a second portion that specifies a communication aboutthe featured item, a third portion that identifies a buyer who preparedthe communication, a fourth portion that identifies a seller to receivethe communication, and a fifth portion that specifies a buyer-requestedcommunications format for the communication.

Embodiments of the invention also provide a computer-readable mediumhaving computer-executable instructions for performing a process forallowing buyers and at least one seller to communicate about a featureditem offered in an on-line group-buying mechanism. The computer-readablemedium comprises instructions for receiving a buyer communication from abuyer of the buyers regarding the featured item and for transmitting thebuyer communication to a seller representative associated with thefeatured item wherein the seller representative comprises a utility thatpermits the at least one seller to communicate to the buyer. Thecomputer-readable medium further comprises receiving a response from theseller representative to the buyer communication; and transmitting theresponse to the buyer.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

An embodiment of the invention will be described below relative to thefollowing figures. Note that similar elements and steps in the figureshave the same reference number.

FIGS. 1 and 2 are simplified diagrammatic representations of prior artsales models that may be useful for understanding the invention.

FIG. 3 is a corresponding simplified diagrammatic representation of anon-line group-buying sale in accordance with an embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 4 illustrates a sample negotiating room architecture, according toan embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 5 illustrates a sample seller's architecture for a seller,according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 6A illustrates a sample message receiver and transmitter 501,according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 6B is a flowchart illustrating operations of an exemplary messagereceiver, according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 7 illustrates a sample user interface 701 for threaded messagesenabled by the threaded message/newsgroup enabler 603, according to anembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 8 illustrates a sample automated responder 502, according to anembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 9A illustrates a sample negotiating room in an auditorium chatconfiguration, according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 9B provides an exemplary flash demand curve 901, according to anembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 9C is a flowchart illustrating operations of a negotiating roomhaving a flash demand curve generation capability, according to anembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 9D is a sample buyer screen 950 associated with multiple featureditem offerings from multiple sellers, according to an embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 9E is a sample seller screen 925 associated with multiple featureditem offerings from multiple sellers, according to an embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 9F is a flowchart illustrating a featured item sale involving atleast one negotiating room on-line group-buying sale and at least oneon-line group-buying sale, according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 10 shows an exemplary screen display 1000 that may be used todescribe a featured item on a computer monitor, according to anembodiment of the invention.

FIGS. 11A-11D show exemplary screen displays 1101-1104 that may be usedto describe an on-line group-buying sale on a telephone 1100, accordingto an embodiment of the invention.

FIGS. 12A-12D show exemplary screen displays 1201-1204 that may be usedto describe an on-line group-buying sale on a portable computing device1200, according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 13 shows an exemplary screen display 1300 that may be used todescribe an on-line group-buying sale in a cable television embodimentof a negotiating room, according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 14 illustrates a sample multiple seller negotiation room 1401,according to an alternate embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 15 is a block diagram of an exemplary inter-networked computersystem configured to implement an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 16 is a block diagram of exemplary software components configuredto implement an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 17 is a more detailed block diagram of a portion of the softwarecomponents in FIG. 16 for implementing an embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Introductory Description of an On-Line Group-Buying Mechanism

Embodiments of the invention described herein may operate in conjunctionwith an on-line group-buying mechanism to provide buyers and sellerswith an improved method and system for communicating about featureditems offered in an on-line group-buying sale and for negotiatingimproved prices for the featured items from sellers. Online group-buyingmechanisms are described in the following related pending, commonlyowned applications:

“Demand Aggregation Through Online Buying Groups,” U.S. application Ser.No. 09/270,219, filed Mar. 15, 1999 in the names of Tom Van Horn, NiklasGustafsson and Dale Woodford, the disclosure of which is incorporatedherein by this reference;

“Dynamic Market Equilibrium Management System, Process and Article ofManufacture,” U.S. application Ser. No. 09/281,859, filed on Mar. 31,1999 in the names of Richard V. Halbert, Niklas Gustafsson and John M.Thrun, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by this reference,and

“System and Method for Extension of Group-Buying Throughout theInternet,” U.S. application Ser. No. 09/409,237, filed on Sep. 30, 1999in the names of Tom Van Horn, Jon C. Engman, Richard V. Halbert, NiklasGustafsson, Dale Woodford, Jerome P. Pache, and Greg C. Dean, thedisclosure of which is incorporated herein by this reference.

The following provides a more detailed description of a PowerBuy™, whichrepresents a preferred on-line group-buying sale. The description ofthis specific form of on-line group-buying sale provides anunderstanding of the on-line group-buying mechanisms with whichembodiments of the invention have been developed to interact. Of course,there are other forms of on-line group-buying sales. A featured item(e.g., a product or service) to be offered for sale in a PowerBuy™ maybe defined by placing onto an e-commerce server a set of data describingthe on-line group-buying sale in terms of its price curve(s), thefeatured item, the time interval during which the on-line group-buyingsale is available, and any minimum and maximum quantities available.Some of these defining properties of an on-line group-buying sale maynot necessarily be revealed to the buyer.

When the on-line group-buying mechanism that hosts the PowerBuy™ becomesavailable, buyers enter their offers into the on-line group-buyingmechanism, indicating a maximum price at which they will commit topurchase the featured item. This may be at the current price, or it maybe below the current price in a typical embodiment. Once the currentprice is justified by the volume of on-line group-buying sale offers,all offers within a specified reasonable range below the current pricewill trigger a new, lower current price for the featured item, accordingto the PowerBuy™, the preferred on-line group-buying sale.

In general, offers at the current price guarantee availability of theamount of the featured item, such as a product or product variant,specified in the offer, provided that the amount does not exceed thedifference between the current number of similarly committed units andany maximum number of units available. Note that the starting price maybe established when the on-line group-buying sale is announced, beforeany offers have been submitted based on the price curve and/or otherfeatured item data. Such starting prices may be based on a minimumnumber of units that should be ordered for the on-line group-buying saleto qualify for that price.

In many on-line group-buying mechanisms, including a PowerBuy™, acontingency may be placed on a buyer's offer based on price.Specifically, when any given buyer indicates that he does not find thecurrent price acceptable, but nevertheless wishes to buy the featureditem at a lower price, his offer may be made contingent upon the on-linegroup-buying sale reaching the lower price. However, should his offer bedeemed to fall within reasonable range of the current price, as definedseparately for each on-line group-buying sale, it may be considered partof the market dynamics around the featured item offered in the on-linegroup-buying sale. As such, the offer may reduce the price of theon-line group-buying sale. As more offers are made, and the currentprice drops to a level at or below the contingent price specified, thecontingency based on price is removed. Offers may be increased up to thecurrent price any time during the on-line group-buying sale, such aswhen buyers wish to improve their chance of success or ensureavailability of the item. However, offers may not typically be cancellednor may buyers typically reduce their offered price.

Regardless of the maximum price specified within each purchase offer,all members of the on-line group-buying sale typically receive thebenefit of the lowest final price, including PowerBuy™, the preferredon-line group-buying sale. In addition to seeing the current price godown, the buyers may also be given an indication of how many moreparticipants it may take to get the price down to a specified amount, insome embodiments. Other embodiments may require a critical mass ofaccepted offers in order for the sale to proceed, and in suchembodiments, the buyers may also be given an indication of how many moreparticipants it may take to attain the critical mass. While every offermight affect the price by small decrements, the price reductions thatare sufficiently compelling to encourage buyers to refer others to theon-line group-buying sale might be much greater and may vary fromon-line group-buying sale to on-line group-buying sale. Therefore, insome embodiments, an on-line group-buying sale may be further defined bya “price curve visibility window,” which is the difference in price thatis deemed interesting to a buyer of a given merchandise. The visibilitywindow is in essence the granularity at which the actual price curve isdisplayed to buyers.

Merchandising and yield management personnel of an operator, partner orseller may define each on-line group-buying sale by means of data entry.Such data entry is not typically limited to the time period prior to theopening of an on-line group-buying sale, nor is the transactionnecessarily completed at the time the conclusion of the on-linegroup-buying sale's duration. The definition of an on-line group-buyingsale, including its price curve, may be subject to modification at anytime during its lifetime or thereafter. In fact, the ability to modifythe on-line group-buying sale definition based on data gathered fromoffers to participate in an on-line group-buying sale is a somewhatunique characteristic of PowerBuy™, one embodiment of an on-linegroup-buying sale.

Buyers may be permitted to initiate electronic communications, such ase-mail messages, web-based forum postings, and chat-room postings,designed to increase buyer volume, thereby further reducing the priceavailable to all. The recipient of such an electronic communication maybe directed back to the specific on-line group-buying sale by either areply function or a link within the electronic communication. Therecipient, likewise, can then send messages to his or her friends and soon.

The on-line group-buying mechanism can be used to notify buyers and/orsellers of pending or recent events of interest to the buyer. Theseevents may include, but are not limited to, changes in the current pricefor the featured item, pending closure of the on-line group-buying saleat a price that is above the buyer's offer (and therefore the buyerneeds to raise his or her offer, if purchase of the featured item isstill desired), new offers made by other buyers (with due attention toprotecting the privacy of the other buyers), and other on-linegroup-buying sales formed for selling similar featured items.

In some embodiments, when an on-line group-buying sale is closed, eitherbecause the prescribed time limit is met, or any maximum number ofavailable items is satisfied by the demand presented by the buyinggroup, all offers at or above the closing price are typically acceptedand final sales information is communicated to other server processes,which handle the orders' fulfillment via traditional means of hard anddigital goods transportation. Buyers who made successful offers arenotified of acceptance and merchandise shipment, and those buyers whoseoffers were not successful are typically notified of the result. In someembodiments, the close of an on-line group-buying sale may result in areferral by the operator of buyer and offer data to a non-operatorseller or partner who then can take appropriate action in pursuing theclose of each desirable sales transaction within the buyer group. Inthese instances, follow-up interaction with those making successful andunsuccessful offers is typically conducted by the non-operator partneror seller.

In addition to participating in on-line group-buying sales, buyers mayutilize an input feature to suggest featured items or product/servicecategories for which they have an interest in an on-line group-buyingsale being created. Further information may be gathered regarding theprospective buyer's preferences including acceptable prices, and suchprospective buyer may then be notified at the time his or her items aresold in an online group-buying sale. Other aspects of this function mayinclude a focal point or community for buyers to suggest and organize awide variety of on-line group-buying sales designed to suit their everyneed, including the ability to create a market for desired products orservices by assembling sufficient demand to support a desired purchase.A given buyer may also participate in achieving sufficient demand aroundthe specific manufacture of particular merchandise suggested by thevarious buyers, or the creation of broader interest groups around amerchandise category, e.g., a product/service category.

An ordinarily skilled artisan should recognize that the foregoingdiscussion and the related applications incorporated by referencedescribe various possible on-line group-buying mechanisms and areparticularly focused on PowerBuy™. Of course, an ordinarily skilledartisan should also recognize that additional on-line group-buying saleformats and on-line group-buying mechanisms are possible, although allsuch envisioned on-line group-buying mechanisms shall feature demandaggregation of various buyers as a technique for reducing the price ofthe offered goods and services.

Description of a Sample Negotiating Room Architecture

Embodiments of the invention may provide increased communicationsbetween buyers and sellers beyond simple communication of prices andoffers for featured items. Accordingly, such embodiments of theinvention may enhance a sense of community sometimes associated with agroup-buying experience. Sellers and buyers may even discuss advantagesand disadvantages of the featured times and use such discussions toarrive at a different price for the featured item. Embodiments of theinvention may also decrease the amount of time in which an on-linegroup-buying sale is conducted, e.g., an hour for a negotiating roomon-line group-buying sale versus several days for a non-negotiatedgroup-buying sale. Both sellers and buyers may contribute to thenegotiations and such contributions may by followed by immediatereactions, followed by many additional iterations, according to anembodiment of the invention. The negotiating room buying participantsmay react immediately to a seller's actions by virtue of their presenceduring live negotiations and/or through the use of automated instantmessaging technology programmed to alert the buyers of changes in priceor merchandise features, which may be especially helpful when only alimited time exists between when buyers must respond with their finaloffers to seller communications and when the seller's end price becomesknown, according to an embodiment of the invention. In addition, messagethreads of communications between buyers and sellers may be retained sothat buyers (e.g., buyers who did not participate in the negotiatingroom on-line group-buying sale) may review what happened during thenegotiating room on-line group-buying sale. For example, in anembodiment of the invention having a threaded message capability, themessage threads may be available to buyers for some period of timeduring and after the sale (e.g., a week). In an embodiment of theinvention having a cable television capability, the negotiations or someportion of the negotiations (e.g., highlights) could be available via acapability such as streaming media clips during and after the sale(e.g., a week).

As previously discussed, an on-line group-buying mechanism may benefitfrom additional methods and systems for encouraging buyers and sellersto participate in the on-line group-buying mechanism and forfacilitating communications between buyers and between sellers. Whilevarious metaphors may be utilized in the design of a system forfacilitating such buyer-to-buyer and seller-to-buyer communications, thenegotiating room metaphor may be the most appropriate. Accordingly, thefollowing discussion envisions a method and system for furtheraggregating demand among buyers and for supporting sales of one or morefeatured items by an on-line group-buying mechanism by providing buyersand sellers with various communication and negotiating tools.

FIG. 4 illustrates a sample negotiating room 401 architecture, accordingto an embodiment of the invention. The negotiating room 401 isassociated with, and configured for communications with, an on-linegroup-buying mechanism 407. The negotiating room 401 typicallyrepresents a computing system, e.g., a computing system operated onbehalf of a seller and/or an operator. The on-line group-buyingmechanism 407 typically represents a computing system, e.g., a computingsystem operated by a merchant and/or operator who facilitates the saleof a featured item(s) on behalf of itself and/or a third party merchantin an on-line group-buying sale. The operator of the negotiating room401 may be a demand aggregation service provider associated with thefeatured item, according to an embodiment of the invention. Thenegotiating room 401 may alternatively be operated by a seller ormanufacturer of the featured item, according to an embodiment of theinvention. Alternatively, the negotiating room 401 may be operated by anon-line retailer of consumer or business products (e.g., the partyassociated with the on-line group-buying mechanism 407) or anotherpartner, according to another embodiment of the invention.

The negotiating room 401 is associated with, and configured forcommunications with, partners 403 and 405, as is the on-linegroup-buying mechanism 407. Buyers 402 are associated with the partner403; buyers 404 are associated with the partner 405, while buyers 406have no associated partner and may directly contact the on-linegroup-buying mechanism 407. The buyers 402, 404, 406 may communicatewith each other directly, via the partners 403, 405, via the on-linegroup-buying mechanism 407, the negotiating room 401 and/or via anelectronic network between them (e.g., an Internet connection),according to embodiments of the invention. An ordinarily skilled artisanwill recognize that various communications mechanisms may be used toprovide buyer-to-buyer communications, including but not limited toelectronic mail or instant messaging. The buyers 402, 404, 406 typicallyrepresent devices configured for communicating information from buyersacross an electronic network, e.g., computers, telephones, etc.Likewise, the partners 403, 405 also typically represent devices (e.g.,computing systems) configured for communications across electronicnetworks.

In the typical negotiating room scenario, the buyers 402, 404, 406communicate with the negotiating room 401 concerning particular featureditem(s) offered for sale through the on-line group-buying mechanism 407.The buyers' communications may concern the price of the featureditem(s), questions about the featured item(s), questions about servicingthe featured item(s), comparisons of competing products, or more generalmatters, such as the buyers' general likes and dislikes, especially withregard to the seller's featured item(s). In return, seller may use thenegotiating room 401 in answering the buyers' questions and may, in someinstances, use the buyers' questions as motivation for lowering theprice of the featured item(s), sua sponte, in the on-line group-buyingmechanism 407. For example, the seller associated with the negotiatingroom 401 may discover early on while conducting an on-line group-buyingsale that its understanding of the buyers' actual pricing/demand curvesfor a featured item was completely mistaken. The seller's impressionsmay be further confirmed by the communications received in thenegotiating room 401 from the buyers. Accordingly, the seller mayinstruct that different data be used in the on-line group-buyingmechanism 407, i.e., a steeper price curve may be used instead of theoriginal price curve. Such behavior by the seller may result in a moresuccessful on-line group-buying sale than would have otherwise resultedusing the on-line group-buying sale's original parameters. Likewise, theseller may create market goodwill for its merchandise by its responsesto buyer questions. The seller may even offer particular buyers rebatesfor use in the on-line group-buying sale for various reasons, e.g., as aresponse to a buyer's description of shortcomings with earlier models ofthe merchandise.

Eventually, the buyers 402, 404, and 406 may communicate to the on-linegroup-buying mechanism 407 their offers with regard to the featured item(e.g., merchandise) being offered in the on-line group-buying sale. Theon-line group-buying mechanism 407 conducts on-line group-buying salesin the manner previously described, although the seller may be permittedto intervene directly in some instances in the sale. In some embodimentsof the invention, the on-line group-buying mechanism 407 may provideaccess to the buyers' offers to functionality associated with thenegotiating room 401. In addition, in some embodiments, the buyers'offers may arrive at the negotiating room 401 and be passed on to theon-line group-buying mechanism 407.

The buyers 402, 404 communicate with the negotiating room 401 throughtheir respective partner 403, 405, while the buyers 406 communicatedirectly with the negotiating room 401. As intermediaries, the partners403, 405 may pre-process some communications passing between the buyers402, 404 and the negotiating room 401, although they are not required todo so. For example, the partners 403, 405 may collect additional datarelated to a particular on-line group-buying sale that they makeavailable only to their respective buyers 402, 404, e.g., apartner-to-buyer service called “our edge.” The partners 403, 405 incooperation with either the negotiating room 401, the on-linegroup-buying mechanism 407, or on their own initiative may offer adiscount program or rebate associated with a particular merchandiseoffered for sale. In an embodiment of the invention, negotiating roomfunctionality in conjunction with an online group-buying sale may beoffered exclusively to a particular partner's 403 buyers 402 as aspecial service provided by that partner 403 solely to its buyers 402.This embodiment may be used to permit similarly situated buyers (perhapsall belonging to a particular affinity group sponsoring the partnerwebsite (e.g., a union or a buying club)) to create a market forspecialized merchandise or private-label merchandise customized to thegroup and bearing the private label of the sponsor of that partnerwebsite (e.g., a Seahawks branded sports utility vehicle of a particularmake and model specially manufactured and co-branded for this group byToyota).

The negotiating room 401 and/or the seller's site may be incorporatedwithin the on-line group-buying mechanism 407, vice versa, or thenegotiating room 401 may be separated from the on-line group-buyingmechanism 407 (as shown). Of course, the seller's site (and/or thenegotiating room 401) may be incorporated within one or more of thepartners 403 and 405, vice versa, or the negotiating room 401 may beseparated from the partners 403 and 405 (as shown). The system islikewise operable with more or fewer partners and more or fewer buyers.

Communication lines, such as those associated with an electronicnetwork, have been drawn between the buyers 402, 404, 406, the partners403, 405, the negotiating room 401, and the on-line group-buyingmechanism 407 for convenience of explanation. As one of ordinary skillin the art will recognize, the system could operate with fewer and/ormore direct communications between various entities. The electronicnetwork represented by the communication lines between the buyers 402,404, 406, the negotiating room 401, the partners 403, 405, and theon-line group-buying mechanism 407 may be comprised of a variety ofelectronic communication media. For example, the negotiating room 401may communicate to the buyers 402 via a cable television communicationthat passes through the partner 403, which may be a cable televisionnetwork and/or station, before arriving at buyer televisions 402. Thenegotiating room 401 may also communicate via a telephone transmission,conducted through the partner 405, to telephones (e.g., portablecellular telephones) of the buyers 404. In addition, the negotiatingroom 401 may communicate with the buyers 406 over the Internet. Ofcourse, the on-line group-buying mechanism 407 may have similarelectronic communications media established for communications with thebuyers 402, 404, 406, the partners 403, 405, and the negotiating room401. Likewise, the buyers 402, 404, 406 and the partners 403, 405 mayuse the same, or other communication media to communicate with eachother and with the negotiating room 401 and the on-line group-buyingmechanism 407. In some embodiments, the negotiating room 401 may routesome, or all, of its communications through either the partners 403, 405and/or the online group-buying mechanism 407.

Of course, as an ordinarily skilled artisan will recognize, if acommunication recipient (e.g., the negotiating room 401 and the on-linegroup-buying mechanism 407) can receive communications in a variety ofelectronic media, then the recipient may need to aggregate thecommunications together. For example, if the on-line group-buyingmechanism 407 receives incoming communications from buyers over thePSTN, the Internet, and other electronic networks all for the sameon-line group-buying sale, then the on-line group-buying mechanism 407may need to identify the portion of the communication pertaining to thesubstance of the on-line group-buying sale, however transmitted, andplace it with the collection of other communications for the sameon-line group-buying sale, however transmitted, in order to determinethe present state of the online group-buying sale, e.g., 200 offers fromthe telephone and 500 offers from the Internet combines to 700 offers.

As one of ordinary skill in the art will recognize, the buyers 402, 404,and 406 may require some form of customized client-side software. Forexample, HTML pages may not typically provide the type of user interfacerequired for a successful negotiating room viewer, and HTML may not besuccessful at producing incremental changes to message lists formessages between buyers and sellers. An ordinarily skilled artisan willrecognize that the customized software could be provided to the buyers402, 404, and 406 in forms such as applets, plugins, and stand-aloneapplications. The particular form selected may depend upon a variety ofconsiderations, each of which could vary depending upon a number offactors, such as the computing environment believed to be used by thebuyers, or at least the average buyer. For example, while Java applets,may be easy to produce, the typical client browser may require that asuitable Java environment already be installed. Netscape browsers, forexample, may satisfy such requirements but Internet Explorer browsersmay not always have the latest version of the Java virtual machine. Ofcourse, support could be limited to the use of the Java subset supportedby Internet Explorer, but this approach may not produce optimal resultsin some embodiments. A browser plugin could be used in some embodiments,although this approach may present difficulties in some environments.For one thing, it may be helpful to develop plugins for the popularbrowsers on the popular platforms. More specifically, plugins may behelpful for Netscape and Internet Explorer in Windows systems andprobably on Macintosh computers as well. Of course, Unix variants mightalso be applicable in some embodiments as well. In addition, a MacintoshOS-specific standalone application could also be prepared. A Java-basedprogram could be developed for most platforms, as well as a pure Win32program for Windows. Selection and development of any of the approachesdescribed above is well within the abilities of an ordinarily skilledartisan.

Thus, a stand-alone application, written in a language such as Java,that can run virtually unmodified on all platforms, represents thepreferred approach since it may be the easiest approach to implement. Inthis embodiment, the buyers 402, 404, and 406 would merely need todownload and install the appropriate software prior to participating ina negotiating room session. Of course, such software could be providedin response to a buyer's attempt to access the negotiating roomfunctionality. As an ordinarily skilled artisan will recognize, anappropriate installation program includes functionality for installingthe appropriate software on a new machine. For example, a number ofJava-cognizant installation programs already know how to install a Javavirtual machine on the buyer's platform if such software was not alreadyinstalled. In an alternative embodiment, a diagnostic program couldanalyze a buyer's computing platform (e.g., computer, cell phone, etc.)when the buyer attempts to access negotiating room functionality andselect the appropriate client-side software for the buyer's computingplatform and then supply the appropriate software to the buyer'scomputing platform.

FIG. 5 illustrates a sample architecture for use by the negotiating room401, according to an embodiment of the invention. Communication (e.g.,text communications) among a large number of persons (e.g., the buyers402, 404, 406) creates a great deal of messages, including “noise,”which preferably should be filtered and managed to enable thenegotiating room operator and/or merchandise seller 401 to respond in anappropriate manner so as to allow the seller to take advantage ofinformation received from buyers and/or other sellers. For example, in alarge on-line group-buying sale without message filtering, the sellermay become overwhelmed with buyer messages, rendering the seller unableto appropriately and/or to timely respond to the buyer messagesreceived. Accordingly, a message receiver and transmitter 501 receivesincoming messages and performs various filtering and routing tasks. Ofcourse, since some communications may comprise prices at which buyersand sellers are willing to contract to purchase featured items (e.g., inthe manner described in the commonly assigned applications referencedabove), filtering of such messages may be unnecessary and/or suchmessages may be automatically processed (e.g., using the methods andsystems described in the commonly assigned applications referencedabove).

In a preferred embodiment, polling technology may be used initially toestablish consensus among the buying group regarding desired productfeatures and/or the formation of any commercially viable subgroups ofbuyers. Offer-based communications may then be used as much as possiblethereafter to allow the negotiating process to be relatively streamlinedand easily managed through the use of the methods and systems describedin the commonly assigned applications incorporated by referencehereinabove regarding the handling and management of purchase offers andmay potentially achieve or maximize a given seller's various businessobjectives in response to demand and price point preferences expressedby the group on the same or similar featured items at varying pricepoints. Of course, such offer-based communications in both revocable orirrevocable formats when solicited in response to particular sellerquestions (e.g., “Please enter your offer now if you'd prefer the purplebaby jogger”) may nevertheless stimulate, a much broader “discussion”among buyers and sellers than is enjoyed by typical embodiments ofon-line buying-group mechanisms due to the presence of thecommunications capabilities disclosed herein.

An automated responder 502 receives incoming messages (typically afterthey have passed through the message receiver and transmitter 501). Theautomated responder 502 may include various components configured toprepare and send automated responses to the buyers. The automatedresponder may also include components for transmitting received messagesto sellers, e.g., transmitting messages according to a requested format.In some embodiments, the automated responder 502 may contain specialsoftware that pre-processes incoming and/or outgoing messages tosimplify the tasks that need to be performed by human operators. Inother embodiments, the automated responder 502 may have special softwareconfigured to examine incoming messages, prepare detailed responses forsome messages, while sending some other messages on to humanrepresentatives (e.g., seller representatives). In some embodiments, theautomated responder 502 may have software configured to use buyer inputto form sub-groups of buyers, with or without offering sub-chatcapabilities, as a way of streamlining the purchase flow process and theremaining buyer/seller communications. Of course, the automatedresponder 502 may have limited application to some communicationformats/treatments (e.g., auditorium chat) and may be disengaged fromprocessing inappropriate messages, according to an embodiment of theinvention.

A seller representative 503 or forum moderator receives many of theincoming messages, examines them, and prepares an appropriate responseand/or routes messages to customer service agents of the seller oroperator assigned to work with the particular negotiating room andrespond to messages of any or all types. The seller representative 503includes the equipment and tools (e.g., software) needed by the sellerrepresentative (either human or autonomous/semi-autonomous system) toread and respond to incoming messages. As previously discussed, theseller may communicate information about an ongoing (or forthcoming)on-line group-buying sales to the on-line group-buying mechanism 407.This task is typically performed by the seller representative 503 butmay in some instances also be performed by the automated responder 502or customer service agents of the seller or operator. Some messagesprepared by the seller representative 503, customer service agents,and/or the automated responder 502 may be stored in a persistent storagemechanism, such as a data repository 504. For example, the negotiatingroom 401 may receive many similar and/or related messages that can beanswered with the same/similar response. In addition, the negotiatingroom 401 may be operated in an autonomous/semi-autonomous mode (e.g.,such as during after hours) in which the seller representative 503 isnot actively processing messages, but such messages may be automaticallyresponded to by the automated responder 502. An outgoing messagetransmitter 505 completes the process of sending messages back tobuyers. The outgoing message transmitter 505 may place outgoing messagesin an appropriate format for receipt by the buyer who sent the messagebeing answered. Of course, the buyers may include various partnersacting as surrogates and/or intermediaries for particular sets ofbuyers. In some embodiments, the seller representative 503 compriseshuman operators having appropriate computer/communications equipmentwhile in other embodiments, some form of automated and/orsemi-autonomous system may be used.

FIG. 6A illustrates a sample message receiver and transmitter 501,according to an embodiment of the invention. The message receiver andtransmitter 501 may provide various message treatments for incomingbuyer communications, such as a chat enabler 601, an auditorium chatenabler 602, a threaded message/newsgroup enabler 603, and a messageboard enabler 604. As previously discussed, the volume of incomingmessages, including “noise,” may become a serious problem with anysystem in which a small number of persons/responders are expected toreceive and process a large volume of incoming messages (e.g., messagesthat comprise content other than an offer price). Accordingly, operatorsmay also encourage feedback from buyers in the form of irrevocableoffers or revocable offers to purchase the featured items or alternativefeatured items, especially since such offer information can typically beanalyzed and responded to with relative ease (e.g., automatically and/orby utilizing the methods and systems disclosed in the commonly assignedapplications referenced above).

The chat enabler 601, when activated, passes incoming messages on to thenext stage of processing, which may be pre-screened by a moderator orcustomer service personnel, and engages conventional chat functionality.The chat enabler 601 is typically active when the volume of incomingmessages is below a particular level. The chat enabler 601 may beautomatically disengaged when the volume of incoming messages reaches acertain level, for example. Of course, some sellers may simply choose toalways (or frequently) have the chat enabler 601 disengaged. Bycontrast, other sellers may choose to have the chat enabler 601 enablechat communications at a relatively low level as a means of keepingdirectly in touch with the buyers. For example, the seller associatedwith the negotiating room 401 might choose to set the chat enabler 601to enable chat-type communications with 5 percent of incoming buyermessages while providing different processing/treatment for the otherincoming messages.

The auditorium chat enabler 602, when activated, passes incomingmessages on to the next stage of processing and enables an auditoriumchat functionality in which a limited number of buyers may, at any oneinstance, communicate with the seller, often through a moderator whoconducts pre-screening of buyer questions, to facilitate an appropriatedialog with seller representatives. In a typical auditorium chat format,only a few participants (e.g., an operator, a merchant, a seller and/ora selected buyer(s)) may provide comments directly to the audience whileother participants (e.g., potential buyers) may have more limitedparticipation (e.g., buyers submit their comments to the operator whoreviews them for appropriateness before providing them to the seller orother buyers for a review and response). The auditorium chat enabler 602may also be configured for a conventional stage room communicationsformat in addition to, or in place of, a conventional auditorium chatformat. A stage format typically asks participants (e.g., buyers) to“stand in line” before making comments available to the audience. Thepreferred auditorium chat enabler 602 provides structure to thecommunications between buyers and sellers beyond first-come,first-heard, and preferably has some form of moderator or moderation ofthe communication. The message receiver and transmitter 501 and/or theauditorium chat enabler 602 may be constructed using at least someexisting components, e.g., iChat technology for text chat messaging,and/or existing video and voice chat technology designed to handle largegroups of participants. In some embodiments, some buyers' communicationsmight receive pre-composed message responses while other buyers may beplaced in a queue for posing questions to a moderator and/or a sellerrepresentative. In some embodiments, the moderator may selectrepresentative and appropriate questions and pose them to the sellerand/or seller's representative, and the moderator may then provide theseller's response for the benefit of the entire buying group. Inaddition, in some embodiments, the message receiver and transmitter 501may even place some users in a sub-chat group of people having similarcomments/inquiries (e.g., in order to streamline certain discussions notbelieved to be of interest to the broader group.)

The auditorium chat enabler 602 may otherwise be operated in a mannersimilar to that described above for the chat enabler 601. In addition,just as an operator may choose to have some percentage of incomingmessages receive chat treatment, an operator may likewise choose to havesome percentage of incoming buyer messages receive an auditorium chattreatment while providing other treatments for remaining messages. Ofcourse, a seller could also choose to have some percentage of incomingmessages receive one treatment, another percentage receive still anothertreatment, and yet another percentage of incoming messages receive yetanother treatment, etc.

The threaded message/newsgroups enabler 603 also provides a method ofcommunicating with buyers. The enabler 603, when activated, passesincoming messages on to the next stage of processing and enablesconventional threaded message/newsgroup functionality. The advantage ofthe newsgroup model is that the entire conversation is typically storedand can be examined at any time. Also, replies to a given topic are“threaded” together so that they can be followed independently of theother discussions going on concurrently on different topics. Forexample, a negotiating session may last an arbitrarily long time (e.g.,several hours or several days), if desired, and people, including theseller's representative 503, might wish to show up, read some threads,post comments, and then leave the negotiating room 401. Allowing all thebuyers to show up when they want is sometimes more effective in terms ofincreased participation than requiring everyone to be present for theduration of the on-line group-buying sale for a particular featureditem. Threading messages allows the seller to organize messages so thatbuyers can follow topics that they are interested in and ignore topicsthat they don't care about. The seller representative 503 is in the samesituation and can use the same solution, e.g., closely follow threadsthat are relevant and ignore threads that are off-topic. As describedabove, a seller may likewise choose to have some percentage of incomingbuyer messages receive threaded message/newsgroup treatment whileproviding other treatments for the remaining messages.

The message board enabler 604 resembles the threaded message enabler 603but typically provides less sophisticated message organization. Themessage board enabler 604 may otherwise be operated in a manner similarto that described above for the threaded message enabler 603. Inaddition, just as a seller may choose to have some percentage ofincoming messages receive chat treatment, a seller may likewise chooseto have some percentage of incoming buyer messages receive message boardtreatment while providing other treatments for remaining messages.

The message receiver and transmitter 501 may alternatively allow buyersto select a treatment for their message. For example, the seller couldset the message receiver and transmitter 501 so that some treatmentswere never available while other treatments were available dependingupon demand and/or request. Of the set of treatments not curtailed bythe seller and/or demand, the buyer could then select which treatmenthe/she preferred. For example, even if chat treatment was availableand/or offered to an incoming buyer, some buyers might choose not toavail themselves of discussing merchandise with an active sellerrepresentative but might choose instead to simply post a messageregarding the merchandise.

For example, in one embodiment of the invention, the message receiverand transmitter 501 is set such that the threaded message/newsgroupenabler 603 is always enabled, with the other enablers 601-602, 604 notutilized. The threaded message/newsgroup enabler 603 also allows buyersto review messages left by other buyers and/or the seller, in additionto providing a capability for the buyers to leave messages. Of course,the other enablers also allow buyers to review messages left by otherbuyers and/or the seller.

FIG. 6B is a flowchart illustrating operations of an exemplary messagereceiver, according to an embodiment of the invention. The messagereceiver (e.g., the message receiver and transmitter 501) receivesinitial configuration instructions, typically from an operator, such asa, seller's representative (step 621). The message receiver may alsotypically receive updated instructions while the message receiver is inoperation.

The message receiver next receives buyer communications (step 623). Ofcourse, as previously discussed, the buyer communications may arrivefrom a variety of media/formats (e.g., telephone, cable television) andmay be converted to another media/format for further processing. If thebuyer(s) are allowed to select the communications format (e.g.,auditorium chat, threaded message) (step 625), the message receiverreceives and processes the buyer's requested format selection (step627). If the buyer is not allowed to select the communications format(step 625), then the message receiver selects an appropriate format forthe buyer's communication.

If the buyer is allowed to select the communications format (step 625),as discussed, then the message receiver receives the buyer's requestedformat selection (step 627). If the buyer's requested format isavailable (step 629), then the message receiver provides the buyer'srequested format (step 631). The buyer may then receive the appropriatetreatment for his/her message as requested. If the buyer's requestedformat is not available (step 629), then the buyer's communicationreceives treatment in a manner similar to the situation when the buyeris not allowed to select the format. A requested format may not beavailable because it has reached a given capacity limit and/or a varietyof other factors.

When the buyer is not allowed to select the communications format, thenthe message receiver determines whether multiple communications formatsare available for treatment/processing of the buyer's communication(step 633). If multiple formats are not available (step 633), then themessage receiver provides the format presently selected as enabled (step637). As previously discussed, the message receiver may receive newinstructions during operation, so the enabled format at one instanceneed not necessarily be the enabled format at another instance.

If multiple formats are available (step 633), then the message receiverselects a format for the buyer communication and performs any necessaryadjustments for future communications (step 635). For example, anadjustment may be necessary to indicate how much of the format'scapacity has been used. As previously discussed, the selection of aformat may be conducted in a variety of ways. In one embodiment of theinvention, the message receiver may be configured to process a certainpercentage of messages using one treatment while processing anotherpercentage of messages using another treatment. The message receiver mayneed to monitor the amount of traffic associated with the negotiatingroom and from time-to-time render particular treatments unavailable dueto lack of capacity, according to an embodiment of the invention. Oncethe message receiver has selected a format (step 635), then the messagereceiver provides communications using the format selected (step 637).

The message receiver may continue to process communications until itsoperation is disengaged, typically by the operator (e.g., the merchant)associated with the negotiating room and/or the on-line group-buyingsale.

FIG. 7 illustrates a sample user interface 701 for threaded messagesenabled by the threaded message/newsgroup enabler 603, according to anembodiment of the invention. The user interface 701 comprises a firstportion 703 that displays messages and message threads and a secondportion 704 that displays individual messages, such as messagespresently being read by the buyer or messages being composed by thebuyer.

Buyers may actuate a new message button 705 to create new messagethreads. The first portion 703 may be refreshed to show new threads asthey are created. If the rate of new messages is relatively low, thenbuyers may be automatically shown each new message as it appears, e.g.,in the second portion 704. If the rate of new messages is relativelyhigh, then buyers may need to select particular threads for real-timedisplay or be required to select individual messages. To follow-up on amessage, a buyer actuates a reply button 706. The reply button 706allows appropriate association between messages and helps maintain themessage threads in proper order.

As previously discussed, the seller can monitor message traffic, makecomments, etc. Accordingly, individual seller representatives may havevery similar user interfaces to the user interface 701, although aseller representative may additionally have extra tools configured toprovide functionality such as an interface into the on-line group-buyingmechanism 407.

FIG. 8 illustrates a sample automated responder 502, according to anembodiment of the invention. The automated responder 502 comprises amessage receiver controller 801, a message analyzer 802, a messageformatter 803, and a voting mechanism 804, and a message transmitter805.

The message receiver controller 801 may provide a user-configurable toolfor automatically controlling the message receiver 502. For example,once a seller has configured the message receiver controller 801, themessage receiver controller 801 may ensure that automatic enablementcriteria are carried out for the message receiver 502 and itscomponents.

The message analyzer 802 provides a user-configurable device foranalyzing incoming buyer messages. The message analyzer 802 may performfiltering functions on incoming messages based on their content and/ordirect a message to an appropriate seller representative. In someembodiments, the message analyzer 802 may analyze and group incomingbuyer messages based on a sorting and key word identification offrequently asked questions (“FAQs”) which once identified can easily beresponded to with canned responses. In addition, the message analyzer802 may be programmed to analyze incoming buyer messages based on keyword usage so they may either be promptly and “intelligently” respondedto by the message analyzer 802 itself, or routed by the message analyzer802 to the most appropriate customer service personnel to prepare anappropriate response given the key words used in the message. Forexample, the message analyzer 802 may search for key words andcombinations of key words (e.g., “What,” “DVD,” “Snuffy,” “MSRP,” “?”),determine that the message is seeking the manufacturer's suggestedretail price for a Snuffy DVD player, and then prepare an appropriatemessage in response. In preparing automated responses, the messageanalyzer 802 may consult various data repositories, including datarepositories having previously prepared responses. If an automatedfacility can prepare a satisfactory response to a buyer's query, thenthe human seller representatives and/or customer support personnelstanding by to help respond to buyer questions are free to answer morecomplicated queries from other buyers.

The message formatter 803 can prepare outgoing messages of various sortsto buyers. For example, the message formatter 803 may receive anindication from the message analyzer 802 to access the persistent memory504 and retrieve a previously prepared response and then modify it fortransmission to a particular buyer. Of course, the tasks performed bythe message formatter 803 may change depending on the types of messagesreceived and processed by the negotiating room 401.

The voting mechanism 804 may be used in configurations in which buyersare asked to vote on various matters pertaining to a particular item forsale, such as quick real-time votes on questions of interest. Forexample, “How many people would be willing to wait two weeks fordelivery in exchange for a $20 reduction in price?” or “How many peoplelike the current deal and would probably make a purchase?” In this way,the operator and/or seller representative may quickly and efficientlyestablish consensus among the group of interested buyers, or definerelevant subgroups of buyers, that will facilitate completion of one ormore group sales. The votes would not necessarily be irrevocable, butthey could be useful to the seller associated with the negotiating room401 who could possibly alter the characteristics of a particular on-linegroup-buying sale.

The message transmitter 805 transmits messages to the sellerrepresentative 503. For example, the automated responder 502 may receivea message from the message receiver and transmitter 501 that it cannotpresently process (e.g., the message is too complicated for automatedprocessing). In such cases, the message transmitter 805 sends themessage to the seller representative 503.

FIG. 9A illustrates a negotiating room 401 a in an auditorium chatconfiguration, according to an embodiment of the invention. In thisembodiment, an operator (e.g., a merchant) associated with thenegotiating room 401 a makes prospective buyers aware of the possibilityof an on-line group-buying sale during an auditorium chat forum. Forexample, the operator could advertise via cable television the specifictime for the auditorium chat, and/or make the auditorium chat forumknown on the merchant's website (e.g., an Operator's Site or a Partner'sSite). The operator may also require, although this is not strictlynecessary, that prospective buyers, such as the buyers 402, 404, 406,pay some form of binding consideration (e.g., a cover charge) as anindication of their seriousness in participating in the negotiating room401 a. If consideration is collected (e.g., by the on-line group-buyingmechanism 407), the consideration may, of course, be applied to thepurchase price of the featured item; operators and sellers may apply (ornot apply) the consideration in a variety of ways.

In this embodiment of the invention, an operator associated with thenegotiating room 401 a plays the role played by the seller associatedwith the negotiating room 401 in FIG. 5. (Thus, the operator 401 a alsotypically operates the on-line group-buying mechanism as well.) Anoperator's representative 503 a corresponds to the seller'srepresentative 503 shown in FIG. 5, except that the operator'srepresentative does not typically represent the seller's interests butinstead represents the operator's interests. Accordingly, sellersassociated with an on-line group-buying sale may provide seller'srepresentatives 503 c. In a typical configuration, each seller isrepresented by a seller's representative. Of course, otherconfigurations are possible, such as multiple seller's representativesfor a seller as well as one seller's representative for multiplesellers. In addition, a single seller's representative having only asingle featured item may be used in some embodiments.

The operator representative 503 a may announce the beginning of theauditorium chat forum. The operator representative 503 a may make theannouncement over all appropriate electronic network(s) usingtransmitting functionality provided with the operator representativeutility itself and/or the outgoing message transmitter 505. In someembodiments, the outgoing message transmitter 505 may be configured tobroadcast announcements to a large group of prospective buyers, e.g.,buyer names from the operator's records of previous customers and/orsend an announcement across an electronic network, such as anadvertisement on a cable channel. Thus, in some configurations, theoperator representative 503 a may announce the beginning of theauditorium chat forum over a cable network, over the Internet, and overthe PSTN. Such announcement may take the form of either a generalannouncement in advance of the auditorium chat event, or a remindernotification immediately prior to the auditorium chant event.

On-line group-buying sales conducted in the auditorium chat forum may beconducted in a faster time frame than on-line group-buying sales inother formats, although a faster time frame is not required. Inaddition, the auditorium chat forum may provide a special on-linegroup-buying sale associated with an ongoing on-line group-buying saleconducted in another format and/or the auditorium chat forum may beconducted as an on-line group-buying sale with no connection to anothersale. If the online group-buying sale in an auditorium format is beingconducted as a special promotion associated with another on-linegroup-buying sale, then the buyers 402, 404, 406 may be permitted tojoin the auditorium chat forum prior to the forum's inception in amanner similar to the way buyers make offers on featured items in atypical on-line group-buying sale. Those joining the buying group inthis manner may indicate their desire to be automatically notified atthe time the negotiating forum begins or should specified changes in theproduct offering or price occur.

The buyers 402, 404, 406 do not need to place an offer prior to theforum's inception, nor do they need to join the auditorium chat at itsinception, although their participation should preferably beginrelatively early in the on-line group-buying sale, especially since inmany instances, such sales may be conducted relatively quickly (e.g.,less than an hour). For example, the operator representative 503 a maysend an announcement such as “Welcome, shoppers to another ‘InstantPowerBuy™’. In just a moment, we'll be offering to you, a fine DVDproduct . . . . ” This announcement may be sent over a cable channel,over the Internet, over the PSTN, or another communication channel. Ofcourse, the announcement sent over some electronic networks may notnecessarily be in both audio and video formats and might even betranslated into a text format.

The buyers 402, 404, 406 contact the operator's message receiver andtransmitter 501. The buyers 402, 404, 406 may indicate to the messagereceiver and transmitter 501 that they are interested in receivingauditorium chat treatment via the auditorium chat enabler 602. Ofcourse, in some configurations, the message receiver and transmitter 501could be set to provide auditorium chat treatment to all incoming buyermessages. In addition, in some configurations, the buyers 402, 404, 406may make their interest in the auditorium chat known by providing anidentification number that corresponds with previously paidconsideration, e.g., a cover charge.

As previously discussed, in some embodiments, the buyer 402 may arrivevia a cable network, or via an appropriate back channel associated withan interactive cable network. For example, the partner 403 could be aninteractive cable network that provides cable services to the buyers402. The buyer 404 may arrive at the forum via a connection over thePSTN. For example, the partner 405 could be a local telephone servicethat provides cellular service to the buyer 404. The buyer 406 mayaccess the negotiating room 401 via the seller's website. Of course, asan ordinarily skilled artisan will recognize, a variety of otherpossible configurations are possible.

When the operator representative 503 a determines that a sufficientnumber of buyers have entered the negotiating forum for the featureditem being offered (e.g., some high-priced specialty items may requireonly a few buyers), the operator representative may begin the sale ormay allow the various seller's representatives to discuss theirrespective featured items. For example, a seller's representative couldmake an announcement, such as “Okay, everybody, how many of you would beinterested in buying this fine Snuffy DVD Player for $120? Please decideduring the next twenty minutes. Now remember, we try to make our pricesextremely competitive, but if this price is too high for you, thenplease enter what you believe to be a more reasonable price. Again,please decide during the next twenty minutes.”

The buyers 402, 404, 406 who have entered the auditorium chat forum mayeither accept the seller's $120 price or reject it and enter another(e.g., lower) price. For example, the buyers accessing the sale from aninteractive cable system typically enter their choice through a cableremote control; the buyers accessing the sale from cellular phones usetheir telephone's keypad, and the buyers accessing the sale from acomputer use their computer's keyboard. In a multiple sellerconfiguration, the various seller's representatives will likely providecompeting prices for their respective featured items, allowing thebuyers 402, 404, 406 to choose at least one featured item from one ofthe competing sellers. The buyers 402, 404, 406 could even submitcompeting offers for the various sellers' featured items.

The voting mechanism 804 processes the incoming information from themessage receiver and transmitter 501 and tallies the results andpresents them to the operator representative 503 a and may presentappropriate results to the seller's representatives 503 c. For example,in some configurations, a seller may be allowed to view results for allsellers while in other configurations, a seller may be allowed to onlyview results for its own featured item.

The on-line group-buying sale may be configured such that preliminarydemand information may be collected from sellers before irrevocableoffers are received from the buyers. For example, the seller may ask ahypothetical question (e.g., “Who will pay $100 for this product?”) as away of gauging demand before the sale actually begins. Of course, theoperator, merchant, partners, and sellers may work together to structurethe negotiating room experience in a variety of ways that may or may notinclude nonbinding voting and/or revocable offers. In any event, thevoting mechanism 804 may be configured to collect both binding andnon-binding responses from the buyers.

The voting mechanism 804 may present the voting results in the form of agraph. The graph may take the form of an instantaneous demand curve,also known as a “flash” demand curve. FIG. 9B provides an exemplaryflash demand curve 901, according to an embodiment of the invention. Theflash demand curve 901 may depict demand for a featured item among agroup of prospective buyers within a bounded time period (e.g., withprice along the y-axis and the number of prospective buyers along thex-axis). For example, a flash demand curve might show the demand for aparticular type of DVD player among 502 prospective buyers participatingin an on-line group-buying sale for the DVD player, measured within a20-minute time period during the on-line group-buying sale. By providingsuch instantaneous (e.g., “flash”) results, the flash demand curve 901may provide sellers with useful information about how they shouldproceed with selling the featured item in the on-line group-buying salefor which the flash demand curve has been calculated. Sellers may usethe flash demand curve 901 both in pre-sale hypotheticals withprospective buyers and/or in actual on-line group-buying sales. Thus,the flash demand curve 901 provides a tool for gauging pre-sale demandunder certain sales assumptions and provides a tool for gauging demandduring an actual sale.

The respective seller's representatives 503 c may review the resultsprovided in the flash demand curve 901 to see if the sales goals aremaximized by accepting all the offers at a certain price or to considerwhether sales goals would be maximized by accepting all the offers atsome lower price. For example, a seller's representative might concludethat accepting all offers at or above $100 would be more likely tomaximize sales goals than accepting only the offers at $120, the currentprice. Suppose further that 90 percent of the participants made offersat or above $100, and accepting such offers would maximize the salesgoals. As an ordinarily skilled artisan will recognize, an on-linegroup-buying sale may be conducted with various goals in mind, such asmaximizing revenue, eliminating inventory, or building market share.

Upon viewing the sales results of its flash demand curve, each seller'srepresentative 503 could also decide where the price should be for theirrespective seller's featured item, as well as deciding to offeradditional (or different) merchandise, according to an embodiment of theinvention. For example, a seller's representative could determine thatthe price should remain at $120 but that additional merchandise shouldbe offered. The sales representative 503 c might also decide that theprice should be lowered and additional merchandise offered. Suchinformation may be particularly helpful when the sales representative503 c is conducting various hypothetical price/product mixes before theactual beginning of an on-line group-buying sale.

In such cases, the sales representative 503 c may make an announcementsuch as, “Okay, folks, you've decided that $120 is too much for just theDVD player. So, howabout $110 for the DVD player? But, wait, the goodfolks at Snuffy also tell me that we can throw in the new James BondDVD. So, howabout this, $110 for the DVD player and a free James BondDVD. This time, vote either ‘yes’ or ‘no.’”

The buyers 402, 404, 406 enter their choices again, although this timethey only enter “yes” or “no” answers. The voting mechanism 804 againprocesses the results and presents them to the sales representative 503c. The sales representative may determine that accepting all the “yes”offers will achieve the sales goals. On the other hand, the salesrepresentative 503 c may believe that the sales goals could be bestachieved by adding other merchandise to the sale. The salesrepresentative 503 c could make an announcement such as, “Okay, folks,you're killing me. Here's the deal; I can't go any lower than this: theSnuffy DVD player, the James Bond DVD, a Stuart Little DVD, and atwo-year warranty for the DVD player—all for $110. That's it; that's aslow as I can go. The boss is probably gonna kill me anyway. So, votenow, “Yes” for acceptance and “No” for rejection. And, please, don'tforget, that your cover charge will be credited toward the purchaseprice. Okay, since this is important, you'll have 15 minutes to decide.”

The buyers 402, 402, 406 enter their choices again. The voting mechanism804 again tallies the results and presents them to the salesrepresentative 503 c. The sales representative 503 c may announce to thegroup the results of the final vote and, in the case where the voteswere binding and not hypothetical, the sales representative 503 mayprovide the purchasers with information about how and when they willreceive the merchandise.

As an ordinarily skilled artisan will recognize, the salesrepresentative 503 c could conduct the sale using a variety ofapproaches, and could even continue to add more merchandise or lower theprice further than indicated above. In addition, the salesrepresentative 503 c could even raise the price, although this would beeasier to accomplish when the votes are non-binding on the buyers. Forexample, the sales representative 503 c could add merchandise to theexisting sale that would cause the price of the entire sale to go up.

The flash demand curve 901 may also include the manufacturer's suggestedretail price for the featured item (where appropriate), and the flashdemand curve 901 may also have some form of summary 902, according to anembodiment of the invention. The summary 902 may provide informationsuch as the number of offers received, the number of committed offers,and the price for the committed offers.

FIG. 9C is a flowchart illustrating operations of a negotiating roomhaving a flash demand curve generation capability, according to anembodiment of the invention. For example, the negotiating room in anauditorium chat configuration shown in FIG. 9A could be operated usingthe flowchart shown in FIG. 9C, according to an embodiment of theinvention.

An operator (e.g., the operator representative 503 a) hosting theon-line group-buying sale invites seller(s) to the negotiating room(step 901). Of course, as previously discussed, the operator hosting theon-line group-buying sale may be one of the featured item sellers.

The operator prepares and sends a pre-sale announcement message, alsoknown as a “buyer invitation” to buyers who might be interested inparticipating in the negotiating room experience (step 903), accordingto an embodiment of the invention. The buyer invitation may comprise abroadcast to a list of prospective buyers transmitted by the outgoingmessage transmitter 505, according to an embodiment of the invention. Ofcourse, in some embodiments, the buyer invitation may be limited to anadvertisement of a forthcoming on-line group-buying sale that couldinclude a link to the operator's website, for example. In someembodiments, the buyer invitation may be accompanied by a coupon goodtoward a discount (e.g., $10 off or 5% off) if the buyer participates inthe negotiating room and/or makes an accepted offer therein. In otherembodiments, the buyer invitation may be passive. In some embodiments,buyers entering the operator's website at times near to the beginning ofthe negotiating room on-line group-buying sale may be alerted to theopportunity to participate in the negotiating room group-buying sale,such as by text on the home page of the operator or product manufactureror by a pop-up window while browsing the operator or manufacturer'swebsite.

The buyers and seller(s) meet in the negotiating room (step 905). Ofcourse, in many embodiments of the invention, the “meeting” of thebuyers and sellers will be a virtual meeting in that the buyers andsellers themselves may not be co-located in the same physical location.Of course, some embodiments of the invention may provide a hybridvirtual and physical negotiating room in which some buyers and someseller's representatives are co-located (e.g., where some buyers arepresent with seller representatives as part of a television studioaudience).

The seller(s) create a price (e.g., an initial negotiating room price)for their respective featured item(s), which may provide a context fornegotiations with the buyers (step 907). For example, three seller'srepresentatives for DVD players may each determine an initial offeringprice for their respective featured item. Of course, each product'sinitial offering price does not need to be the same as the initialoffering prices for the other seller's products. In fact, unequalinitial offering prices are probably more likely to occur than not. Somesellers may ask for and/or obtain a flash demand curve before settingthe price, according to an embodiment of the invention.

The seller(s) communicate information about its/their featured itemofferings with the buyers (step 909). For example, the seller(s) mayengage in various forms of negotiating room communications with thebuyers, including one or more of the formats discussed herein. Thecommunications may concern featured item advantages, limitations,warranties, and/or any communication about a featured item that may beof interest to a potential buyer.

Offers received from buyers are a form of communication, just as pricesprovided by sellers are a form of communication. The seller(s) may useoffer information received from buyers as a way of directing the courseof the negotiations with the buyers and with the negotiating roomon-line group-buying sale. Accordingly, in some instances, the seller(s)may not want the offers received from the buyers to be irrevocable (ornot initially irrevocable). For example, sample pricing votes may betaken using the voting mechanism 804. Thus, in such situations, thesellers and/or the merchant and/or the operator may need to determine ifoffers received from buyers are irrevocable on the buyers and/or whenoffers become irrevocable. Of course, such information needs to becommunicated to the buyers. In those instances where the negotiatingroom sale is a breakout of an ongoing on-line group-buying sale, thensome offers may have already been determined to be irrevocable beforethe negotiating room on-line group-buying sale breakout occurs. On theother hand, the seller(s) could announce that participating buyers arereleased (or releasable) from previous offers if they participated inthe negotiating room sale. (Some buyers may wish to retain theirirrevocable offers, e.g., they cannot participate in the negotiatingroom on-line group-buying sale and want the featured item at the priceof their previously submit offer. Accordingly, in some embodiments,these buyers may be permitted to retain their irrevocable offers.) Ingeneral, in a multiple seller on-line group-buying sale, if one selleris using irrevocable offers, then the other sellers will typically becompelled to have irrevocable offers as well; the merchant/operator mayneed to arbitrate when offers become irrevocable in some instances. Ofcourse, the sale may iterate through several cycles of non-binding,revocable offers before the received offers become irrevocable.

If offers are not binding and revocable (step 911), then the seller(s)check demand for the featured item (step 913). The seller may checkdemand by simply reviewing the message traffic in the negotiating room(e.g., reading messages, listening to comments), by taking a poll usingthe voting mechanism 804, and/or by reviewing the results of a flashdemand curve. For example, the operator (e.g., the merchant 401 a) mayallow a flash demand curve to be determined and provides the results tothe seller representative(s). The seller representative(s) may thencheck the flash demand curve for their respective featured item(s). Ifthe seller's check indicates to the seller representative(s) that demandhas not been sufficiently met (step 915), then the sellerrepresentative(s) may modify the featured item offering (step 917). Theseller representative(s) may choose to change the price for the featureditems) and/or change the featured item(s) themselves (e.g., adding anadditional product, a service contract, etc.). Of course, the sellerrepresentative(s) may choose not to alter the featured item's price andalso choose not to modify the featured item offering to includeadditional featured items.

The seller representative(s) may choose to iterate through thenon-binding, revocable offer steps for any arbitrary length of timebefore making the offers irrevocable. In addition, in one embodiment ofthe invention, the seller representative(s) may opt to never make theoffers irrevocable and may additionally choose to reward the buyer's fortheir participation in the negotiating room (e.g., by providing themwith discount coupons).

If the offers become irrevocable (step 911), then the seller'srepresentatives check demand (step 919). As previously discussed, theseller's representatives can check demand informally by reviewing buyercomments, and/or they can ask for some form of a vote to be taken,and/or they can consult the flash demand curve 901. If the sellerrepresentative's check of demand indicates that the sale should bemodified (step 921), then the seller may modify the featured item'sprice and/or change the mix of featured items offered, as previouslydiscussed (step 923).

Since the offers received from buyers are irrevocable, the sellerrepresentative(s) determine how many of the offers received can beaccepted (step 925). The seller(s) may receive enough offers to satisfydemand for the featured item, but the seller(s) may also need todetermine if the offers can be accepted and still attain the seller'sgoals for the sale. For example, a seller may determine that demandcould only be met by accepting 450 offers that includes 45 offers atprices substantially below the level of profitability required by theseller. In other words, the seller may determine that at least some ofthe offers cannot be accepted. The seller representative(s) may acceptoffers in the same manner used for an on-line group-buying sale outsideof a negotiating room (e.g., a non-negotiating room on-line group-buyingsale). In determining which offers to accept, the seller representativemay benefit from the use of a pricing tool. A sample pricing tool isdescribed in U.S. application Ser. No. 09/281,859, “Dynamic MarketEquilibrium Management System, Process and Article of Manufacture,”which has been previously incorporated by reference herein. Sinceaccepted offers create sales, the seller representative(s) may reduceinventory accordingly.

The seller representative next determines whether demand has beensatisfied for the featured item (step 927). The seller representativemay determine that demand has been satisfied in a number of ways. Oneway to decide that demand has been satisfied is to have no remaininginventory, i.e., all units of featured items have been sold. Another wayof determining that demand has been satisfied is to determine that allunits of featured items that could be sold above some given price havebeen sold, e.g., the seller representative cannot submit a lower priceand still attain sales objectives.

If demand has not been met (step 927), then the seller returns tocommunicating with the buyers (step 909). If demand has been met (step927), then the on-line group-buying sale in the negotiating room mayconclude. The seller(s) communications will likely include informing thebuyers of the modified offers (step 909). The steps of announcingoffers, checking demand, and modifying offers continues until eitherdemand is satisfied or until the merchant/operator and/or the seller(s)decide to conclude the online group-buying sale. The seller(s) may evenaccept some offers before modifying the price of the featured item andor the set of products/services in a featured item. In a preferredembodiment, each time the seller(s) lowers the price and/or adds moreproducts/services to the featured item, the buyers already havingaccepted offers receive the benefits of the seller(s)' new offering.

In one embodiment of the invention, the seller representative may inviteduring an on-line group-buying sale (e.g., a sale designed to last threedays) a small set of buyers (e.g., 100 buyers) to meet the sellerrepresentative in the negotiating room. The seller representative maythen complete the steps shown in FIG. 9C in a relatively short timeperiod (e.g., 1 hour) and use the data generated from the negotiatingroom to modify the characteristics of the ongoing on-line group-buyingsale and/or future on-line group-buying sales. For example, the sellerrepresentative could learn through from the negotiating room sale thatthe price curve for the featured item was much steeper than previouslybelieved. In other words, the negotiating room may provide the sellerrepresentative with up-to-date, accurate information regarding theinterests of the precise set of buyers participating in the on-linegroup-buying sale.

FIG. 9D is a sample buyer screen 950 associated with multiple featureditem offerings of multiple sellers, according to an embodiment of theinvention. The sample buyer screen 950 represents a buyer screentypically for use by a buyer engaging an embodiment of the negotiatingroom from a computer. Of course, the buyer screen 950 could be used bybuyers accessing the negotiating room from other platforms, such as viatelephone, hand-held computer, personal data assistant, portablecomputing device, cable television, but each platform would likely havea related (similar) user interface that took advantage of eachplatform's strengths while minimizing its weaknesses.

The buyer screen 950 shows three featured items 951-953, typically fromthree different sellers, available for purchase during the on-linegroup-buying sale associated with the negotiating room, according to anembodiment of the invention. Of course, the buyer screen 950 could showmore or fewer products/services. Each product/service offered for saleincludes an offer button (e.g., an offer button 951 a) whose actuationenables a buyer to submit an offer for the correspondingproduct/service, according to an embodiment of the invention. The offerbutton 951 a may be a hypertext link, for example. Each product/serviceoffered for sale also includes an “ask the seller” button (e.g., anoffer button 951 b) whose actuation initiates negotiating roomcommunications with the seller, according to an embodiment of theinvention. Of course, the negotiating room communications may use any ofthe communications formats discussed herein.

The buyer screen 950 includes a screen refresh button 954 to allow thebuyer operating the buyer screen 950 to receive updates for the featureditems 951-953, according to an embodiment of the invention. For example,the refresh button 954 may be especially helpful when the buyer has notrefreshed the buyer screen 950 for a relatively long period of timeduring which the current price of one or more of the featured items951-953 has decreased. Of course, some displays will automaticallyupdate themselves, and in such cases, the screen refresh button 954 maynot be necessary.

A time-to-offer clock 955 displays the amount of time remaining beforethe next calculation of the flash demand curve. In some embodiments ofthe invention, the buyers may need to submit their offers prior to thecalculation of the flash demand curve in order for their offer to beconsidered by the seller. In other words, the sale may close using onlythe offers received before the calculation of the flash demand curve. Inother embodiments of the invention, the buyers may not necessarily needto have an offer submitted prior to calculation of the flash demandcurve, but if the buyer does not submit an offer before the calculationof the flash demand curve, then the buyer's input may not be consideredby the seller (e.g., not considered by the seller in the seller's nextdetermination of the featured item's price). Of course, the flash demandcurve's calculation and the close of the on-line group-buying sale maynot necessarily coincide in many embodiments of the invention. In otherembodiments of the invention, the flash demand curve's calculation mayoccur without notice. While in other embodiments of the invention, theflash demand curve may be calculated continuously.

The buyer screen 950 may also include a negotiating room communicationarea 956 that displays communications from the buyers/seller(s) in thenegotiating room, according to an embodiment of the invention. Forexample, the buyer screen 950 may display a thread from a message boardor interact with an auditorium chat facility. The buyer screen 950 mayalso include functionality allowing the buyer to communicate in thenegotiating room using a message composition facility 957 and a submitbutton 958 whose actuation causes a message to be sent to the sellerand/or the negotiating room manager.

Using the buyer screen 950, a buyer can choose a featured item andsubmit an offer for the selected featured item and/or play one selleragainst another while possibly risking obtaining both items. In otherwords, a buyer could submit two offers that would have the effect ofsaying, “I'll take product A if the price drops to $Y or product B ifthe price reaches $X.” Of course, both events might transpire (i.e.,Product A's price drops to $Y and product B's price drops to $X), inwhich case the buyer would have both orders filled. In anotherembodiment of the invention, the buyer would be permitted to make hisoffer for Product A conditional on the price drop on Product B (e.g.,“I'11 take product A at the current price unless Product B reaches $X,in which case I'll take product B) or other factors external to ProductA.

FIG. 9E is a sample seller screen 925 associated with multiple featureditem offerings from multiple sellers, according to an embodiment of theinvention. The sample seller screen 925 represents a seller screentypically configured for use by a seller engaging the negotiating roomfrom a computer. Of course, the seller screen 925 could be used bysellers accessing the negotiating room from other platforms, but eachplatform would likely have a related (similar) user interface that tookadvantage of each platform's strengths while minimizing its weaknesses.

The seller screen 925 shows the three featured items 951-953, shown inFIG. 9D. The featured item 951 represents the product/service offeredfor sale by the seller associated with the seller screen 925, accordingto an embodiment of the invention. Of course, the seller screen 925 canbe designed to display equal amounts information for all the featureditems offered (or to display even more information about competitor'sfeatured items); however, it is more likely that the seller will desireto have more information about his/her own featured items as a way ofcommunicating more effectively about such products/services.

A time-to-offer clock 955 displays the time remaining for buyers tosubmit offers prior to the next computation of an instance of the flashdemand curve 901, according to an embodiment of the invention. Ofcourse, the time-to-offer clock 955 is not strictly necessary for theseller(s), but many sellers may appreciate knowing how much time remainsbefore the next computation of the flash demand curve.

The seller screen 925 may also include a negotiating room communicationarea 956 that displays communications arising between thebuyers/seller(s) in the negotiating room, according to an embodiment ofthe invention. For example, the seller may see a thread from a messageboard or interact with an auditorium chat facility. The seller screen925 may also include functionality allowing the seller to communicate inthe negotiating room using a message composition facility 957 and asubmit button 958 whose actuation causes a message to be sent to abuyer(s) and/or the negotiating room manager/operator (e.g., theoperator representative).

The seller screen 925 provides a curve display 986 that permits theseller to modify a product offering on the fly, request a flash demandcurve, and review summary information for competing sellers' featureditems, according to an embodiment of the invention. The seller mayreview previous instances of the flash demand curve 901 and directlymanipulate the featured item's price/offer curve. The seller screen 925also presents summary information in a tabular form, and the sellerscreen 925 provides the seller with functionality to respond to messagesin the negotiating room. In some embodiments, the seller screen 925 mayinclude a pricing tool and/or access to a pricing tool, such as thepricing tool disclosed in the co-pending application entitled “DynamicMarket Equilibrium Management System, Process and Article ofManufacture,” previously incorporated herein by reference.

As discussed above, the seller screen 925 may also include the curvedisplay 986 for the flash demand curve 901, according to an embodimentof the invention. The curve display 986 may provide a display of theflash demand curve 901, comprising the present offer curve for theseller's featured item and may also include the manufacturer's suggestedretail price for the featured item. The curve display 986 may alsoprovide summary information 985 such as the number of offers received,the number of committed offers, and the price of the committed offers.

The curve display 986 may further include a zoom button 985 a thatallows the seller to zoom in on a portion of the flash demand curve 901;a modify button 985 b that allows the seller to modify the offer curve,an update button 985 c whose actuation provides an instant update of thenumber of offers received, and an accept button 985 d whose actuationsends the seller's acceptance of one or more received buyer offers notpreviously accepted. The curve display 985 need not necessarily includeall of these buttons and may even include additional buttons; however,the feature set shown here is preferred.

Actuation of the modify button 985 b allows the seller to modify theoffer curve for the featured item. Of course, modifying the offer curvemay result in a new price for the featured item. For example, if theseller modifies the offer curve, then some received buyer offers thatcould not previously be accepted might now become acceptable.

Operators, merchants, and sellers may use negotiating room on-linegroup-buying sales for a variety of purposes and in a variety of formatsand configurations. In one embodiment of the invention, a negotiatingroom on-line group-buying sale may be used to collect highly up-to-datedemand data which may then be applied to ongoing and/or future orconcurrent on-line group-buying sales for the same or similar featureditems.

FIG. 9F is a flowchart illustrating a featured item sale involving atleast one negotiating room on-line group-buying sale and at least oneon-line group-buying sale, according to an embodiment of the invention.

The seller may have already begun selling a featured item in an on-linegroup-buying sale. For example, the seller may plan to run an on-linegroup-buying sale for three days and use a negotiating room on-linegroup-buying sale as a tool for providing accurate, up-to-date demanddata for featured item of the on-line group-buying sale.

If an on-line group-buying sale is in progress (step 991), then theseller may invite buyers currently participating in the on-linegroup-buying sale to participate in the negotiating room on-linegroup-buying sale (step 993), as well as inviting other buyers in orderto maximize overall buyer involvement. The notification to existingmembers of the buying group may be accomplished by use of instantmessaging technology to provide text, voice or instant video messages tosuch buyers, via cell phones, PDA's, beepers and the like. Ordinarily,previously received irrevocable offers from the buyers may carryover toand become part of the market dynamics involved in the negotiating roomon-line group-buying sale, although this is not strictly required. Theinvolvement of existing buyers' previous offers in the negotiating roomon-line group-buying sale (step 993) may require the operator or sellerto establish policies to apply regarding the existing buyers and theirparticipation in the negotiating room on-line group-buying sale (step995) in order to appropriately protect the expectation of such partiesand honor any irrevocable offers in place. While these policies mighthinder the flexibility of the seller to offer different featured items,they typically would not preclude the seller from improving the bargainto buyers by lowering price, adding accessories, extending warrantiesand the like. In essence, the buyers making offers before the forumbegins would not be penalized for doing so but instead would receive allbenefits of favorable negotiations among the buying group and seller(s)that might take place later in the forum, according to an embodiment ofthe invention.

If an on-line group-buying sale is not ongoing (step 991), or ifexisting buyers from an ongoing on-line group-buying sale will not beinvited to the negotiating room on-line group-buying sale (step 993), orif the seller decides that additional buyers should be included in thenegotiating room on-line group-buying sale, then the seller may inviteadditional buyers (step 997).

Once the seller has a sufficient buyer group, then the seller conductsone or more negotiating room on-line group-buying sales for the featureditem (step 998). As previously discussed, in an on-line group-buyingsale, the seller may alter the featured item mix by adding and removingnew products and services. Accordingly, a seller may run severalnegotiating room on-line group-buying sales to determine the appropriatemix of products/services to achieve the goals for a larger series ofon-line group-buying sales. In other words, the negotiating room on-linegroup-buying sale provides the seller with a tool for testing variousfeatured item mixes and sales strategies with a real buying group.

The seller may then apply data collected (e.g., demand data and featureitem data) from the negotiating room on-line group-buying sale to one ormore on-line group-buying sales (step 999). While on-line group-buyingsales may be run for any time duration, online group-buying sales tendto run for a number days while negotiating room on-line group-buyingsales tend to run for a much more limited time period. Thus, a sellermay apply the data collected from a negotiating room on-linegroup-buying sale to one or more on-line group-buying sales conductedover a longer time period with a substantially larger number of featureditems available for sale.

As previously discussed, buyers may access and interact with theinvention using a number of different platforms. FIG. 10 shows anexemplary screen display 1000 that may be used to describe a featureditem on a computer monitor, according to an embodiment of the invention.

While many displays are possible, the display 1000 would typically beassociated with an embodiment of the invention related to an exclusivePowerBuy™. (For more details on exclusive PowerBuys™ embodiments, seeU.S. application Ser. No. 09/409,237, “System and Method for Extensionof Group-Buying Throughout the Internet,” previously incorporated hereinby reference.) The display 1000 includes exclusivity indicators 1001,1002 and a partner identifier 1005, as well as an operator's identifier1003. Of course, one of ordinary skill in the art will recognize thatproviding an exclusive PowerBuy™ to a given partner does not necessarilyrequire logos identifying the operator or the Partner. On the otherhand, such private label or co-branded features may render an exclusivescenario more attractive to either the partner and/or the operator. Arepresentative display for nonexclusive PowerBuys™ (as well as otherforms of on-line group-buying sales) could be quite similar to thedisplay 1000 albeit without the references to exclusivity 1001, 1002,according to an embodiment of the invention. The display 1000 alsoincludes a group communications display 1004 that allows customers toshare ideas about the featured items offered on the display 1000. Thegroup communications display 1004 shown in FIG. 10 has the format of amessage board in which customers may post messages about the products.As an ordinarily skilled artisan will recognize, other groupcommunications media may be used, such as a chat facility. An ordinarilyskilled artisan will recognize the possibilities for many variations inthe display provided to buyers accessing on-line group-buying sales.

FIGS. 11A-11D show exemplary screen displays 1101-1104 that may be usedto describe an on-line group-buying sale on a telephone 1100, accordingto an embodiment of the invention. The telephone 1100 is a telephonehaving a visual display, such as is commonly associated with cellulartelephones; however, as an ordinarily skilled artisan will recognize,the invention is equally applicable to telephones that provideinformation in an aural only format, such as a conventional touch-tonetelephone. Of course, the same information could be communicated audiblyin this format.

An initial display 1101 provides a buyer with a variety of selectionsthat may condition how the buyer proceeds; e.g., the display 1101 mayrepresent the top of a menu tree for the buyer. Suppose, for example,that the buyer chooses to browse through a list of featured items forvarious on-line group-buying sales. In such a case, the buyer is thendirected to a display, such as a display 1102, that allows the buyer tochoose a product/service category that represents his further interests.On the other hand, the buyer may alternatively choose from the display1101 to search for a particular featured item. In such a case, the buyermay be directed to a display, such as a display 1103, that allows thebuyer to enter some form of description for the product/service thatinterests the buyer. Suppose the buyer enters a description such as“DVD” and then actuates a “find” utility. In this case, the on-linegroup-buying mechanism may eventually provide a display, such as adisplay 1104, to the buyer that provides the results of the searchrequested by the buyer. Of course, a buyer could utilize voice-activatedprompts to accomplish participation in a negotiating room and/or on-linegroup-buying sale using this device.

FIGS. 12A-12D show exemplary screen displays 1201-1204 that may be usedto describe an on-line group-buying sale on a portable computing device1200, according to an embodiment of the invention. The portablecomputing device 1200 is of the type conventionally known as a PalmPilot; however, as an ordinarily skilled artisan will recognize, theinvention is equally applicable to other forms of portable computers.

An initial display 1201 provides a buyer with a variety of selectionsthat may condition how the buyer proceeds; e.g., the display 1201 mayrepresent the top of a menu tree for the buyer. Suppose, for example,that the buyer chooses to search for a particular featured item. In sucha case, the buyer may be directed to a display, such as a display 1202,that allows the buyer to enter some form of description for theproduct/service that interests the buyer. Suppose the buyer enters adescription such as “DVD” and then actuates a “find” facility. In thiscase, the on-line group-buying mechanism will eventually provide searchresults, such as a display 1203-1204, to the buyer that provides theresults of the search requested by the buyer. For example, the display1203-1204 provides detailed information about a particular DVD player ofinterest to the buyer using the portable computing device 1200.

FIG. 13 shows an exemplary screen display 1300 that may be used todescribe an on-line group-buying sale in a cable television embodimentof a negotiating room, according to an embodiment of the invention. Thescreen display 1300 is particularly appropriate in a two-way interactivecable embodiment, but an ordinarily skilled artisan will recognize thatthe display 1300, or other similar displays, are equally applicable toother broadcast environments. The screen display 1300 may be suitablefor display on a viewing device such as television screen, according toembodiments of the invention. Of course, viewers (buyers) of the screendisplay 1300 may participate in the on-line group-buying sale displayed.

A broadcast display 1301 illustrates activities conducted in anegotiating room environment with a human host 1303. To potentiallygenerate increased buyer interest and/or add entertainment value to thegroup-buying experience in the television environment, the human host1303 could be a celebrity hired by the operator of a particular selleror partner to moderate the on-line group-buying sale. For example, alive “PowerBuy™ Broadcast” utilizing the negotiating room tools could beprogrammed to appear during related sports programming and feature aprominent athlete serving as a moderator of the group-buying sale. Thehost 1303 could be accompanied by one or more seller representativescompeting to make sales to a large in studio and television audience ofpotential buyers. Alternatively, the host 1303 could have authority toreduce prices or exchange featured items beforehand thereby reducing(and possibly eliminating) the need for direct involvement by thesellers. A featured item window 1302 displays the featured item andinformation about the featured item in the on-line group-buying sale. Astudio audience 1310 may interact with the negotiating room using remotedevices 1311. The remote devices 1311 may resemble the typical remotedevices used by consumers of interactive television in some embodiments.In other embodiments, the remote devices 1311 may provide uniquecapabilities, while in still other embodiments, the remote devices 1311may simply allow the studio audience 1310 to submit votes and/or anoffer for the featured item. Of course, the studio audience may alsointeract with the host 1303 verbally. An ordinarily skilled artisan willrecognize that the programming content of the broadcast display 1301 mayuse a variety of formats without departing from the spirit of thenegotiating room disclosed herein. For example, some embodiments may nothave the host 1303 and/or the studio audience 1310. Other embodimentscould maximize the entertainment value of the negotiating roomcommunication tools in a television audience setting by creating groupleaders, one or more winning buyers (e.g., the buyer making the offerclosest to the final featured item price would receive the featured itemfree and/or some other prize), and the like.

A menu 1304 provides the viewer with a number of interactive choices forparticipating in the on-line group-buying sale associated with thebroadcast display 1301. Similar to the other platforms disclosed herein,a prospective buyer may use a search utility 1305 to conduct featureditem searches, a browse utility 1306 to scan through lists of featureditems, a message composition and send utility 1307 to compose messagesto other buyers and/or seller(s), a make an offer utility 1308 todevelop and send an offer to a seller(s), and a negotiating room doorwayutility 1309 whose actuation places (or attempts to place) the buyer inthe negotiating room in some virtual fashion. The menu 1304 may alsoinclude other more conventional features, such as a change channelutility 1310 and an electronic program guide (not pictured).

Depending upon interest and network capacity, an operator of theinteractive cable television network that broadcasts the signal for thedisplay 1300 may choose to offer more than one negotiation room on-linegroup-buying sale at a time. In some instances, the operator may alsowish to schedule negotiation room sales and possibly provide a salesschedule to prospective buyers. In fact, the operator/seller(s)/merchantmay each provide a utility for notifying buyers when particularnegotiating room sales will be held. For example, a merchant could allowbuyers reviewing featured items on the merchant's website to leave anindication with the merchant that the buyer would like to participate inthe on-line group-buying sale in the negotiating room when the merchantbegins such a sale. Accordingly, the merchant may send an e-mail to thebuyer a day prior to the initiation of a half-hour on-line group-buyingsale for the featured item that notifies the buyer that the featureditem will be sold in the negotiating room at a particular time.

As an ordinarily skilled artisan will recognize, all the embodiments ofthe invention disclosed herein could be implemented in bothhome/consumer, business-to-business, and commercial/retail embodiments.For example, the cable television embodiment, including the display 1300could be included in a kiosk, such as a stand located in a publicshopping area, e.g., a mall or a store. Of course, other embodiments ofthe invention are also amenable to being placed in a kiosk.

FIG. 14 illustrates a sample multiple seller negotiation room 1401,according to an alternate embodiment of the invention. The multipleseller negotiation room 1401 allows multiple sellers 401 a, 401 b, 401 cto communicate with each other and with the buyers 402, 404, and 406. Inthe multiple seller negotiation room 1401, the buyers 402, 404, and 406may send the same communication to all participating sellers, i.e.,“throw in free service for year, and I'll buy one.” (The buyers may alsosend similar communications in the other multiple seller embodiments.)The buyers 402, 404, and 406 may also send communications to aparticular seller, e.g., the seller 401 b.

Communications between the buyers 402, 404, and 406 may cause one ormore of the sellers 401 a, 401 b, 401 c to alter one or morecharacteristics of an ongoing on-line group-buying sale, just ascommunications in the single seller negotiation room embodiment couldprompt one or more sellers 401 a, 401 b, 401 c to alter an ongoing salein the on-line group-buying mechanism 407. In all other respects, thisembodiment operates in the manner previously disclosed. Of course, themultiple seller negotiating room 1401 may operate in a manner similar tothat described for the merchant embodiment described in FIGS. 9A-9E.Such a multiple seller negotiating room could be operated by a singlesales representative operating on behalf of all the participatingsellers and/or could be operated by multiple sellers representativescompeting against each other. Thus, the negotiating room 1401 wouldtypically operate with the cooperation of multiple sellers or in apredetermined format that would condition the sellers' behaviors in thenegotiating room 1401, e.g., one seller could not “hijack” the sale.

Various hardware and software configurations may be used to provide theon-line group-buying mechanism and the negotiating room. As shown inFIGS. 15, 16, and 17 according to an embodiment of the invention,merchandising and yield management staff 1620 may define an on-linegroup-buying sale using a client computer 1522 and client software 1624,comprising a set of tools. The tools 1624 communicate with serverprocesses 1626 (e.g. data access components), including but not limitedto data repository processes, to enter the data relevant to each on-linegroup-buying sale into a data repository 1539 a via a data repositoryserver(s) 1539, according to an embodiment of the invention. A databaserepresents an exemplary data repository.

A customer (e.g., a buyer) 1628 may access the on-line group-buying saleand/or the negotiating room using a client computer 1530 running abrowser 1532 or through some other type of client computer program,according to an embodiment of the invention. The client computer program1532 typically communicates via some means of physical communicationlayer 1534, e.g., the Internet, with a server 1536, e.g., an HTTPserver, or a server with similar purpose. The physical communicationlayer 1534 may include, of course, wireless communications. The server1536 further communicates, using public or proprietary protocols, withone or more e-commerce server(s) 1538, which may contain software forimplementing the on-line group-buying mechanism as well as thenegotiating room, according to an embodiment of the invention. Theecommerce server 1538 may in turn communicate with (access/update datafrom) the data repository server 1539, which interacts with the datarepository 1539 a, according to an embodiment of the invention.

The e-commerce server 1538 software and related components may comprisea set of server processes 1640, a means 1642 of communication betweenthe server processes 1640, and the data repository 1539 a (via the datarepository server 1539) to hold data significant to the process oftaking offers and otherwise interacting with the customer 1628. Thecapabilities of the e-commerce server software and related componentsmay extend far beyond the ability to handle on-line group-buying sales.

As shown in FIG. 17, an on-line group-buying mechanism comprises a setof data repository tables 1750 that define the properties of the on-linegroup-buying sale(s), a set of program subroutines 1752 and serverprocesses 1754 and 1756 that define the logical processing for managingon-line group-buying sales and their interactions with buyers, and datacontained in the data repository tables 1750 defining the values of theproperties that define each on-line group-buying sale, according to anembodiment of the invention. For example, the tables 1750 may containdata that defines price curves. The data repository 1539 a and the datarepository 1750 may comprise an integrated (e.g., single) datarepository in some embodiments of the invention.

Embodiments of the invention may further include a help system,including a wizard that provides assistance to seller's representativesand staff responsible for configuring the negotiating room and itsvarious components.

Embodiments of the invention using a cable television electronic networkand/or an interactive cable television network may be developed foroperation with any acceptable cable format and/or standard, as anordinarily skilled artisan will recognize. For example, embodiments ofthe invention may be compatible with communications transmitted inaccordance with the Advanced Television Enhancement Forum “ATVEF”specification and standards such as ATSC, DVB, OpenCable, SMPTE, PAL,SECAM, and IETF standards/specifications.

Embodiments of the invention using a wireless voice and/or dataelectronic network may be developed for operation with any acceptablewireless format, as an ordinarily skilled artisan will recognize. Forexample, embodiments of the invention may be compatible withcommunications transmitted in accordance with the Short MessagingService (“SMS”) and the Wireless Application Protocol (“WAP”)specifications and standards, such as HDML, WML, CDPD, CDMA, GSM.

The websites, operator's sites, partner's sites, and seller's sites,along with their related functions may be written for operation on anycomputer operating system and for operation in any computingenvironment. In addition, the on-line group-buying mechanism and thenegotiating room may be designed using CORBA, COM+, ACTIVEX™ controls,and/or Java. According to one embodiment of the invention, Java appletsmay provide a plug-in on-line group-buying mechanism and/or anegotiating room for use with another application on both a singlecomputer and in a networked embodiment.

The on-line group-buying mechanism's screens and the negotiating roomdisplays, such as the sample user interface 701, may be displayed usingany application user interface techniques but will preferably utilizethe “what-you-see-is-what-you-get” (“WYSIWYG”) display paradigm. One ofordinary skill in the art may easily recognize numerous alternateapproaches to providing a user interface to receive the informationneeded to support an on-line group-buying mechanism.

Under embodiments of the invention, a remote buyer computing systemhaving browsing software may communicate with the on-line group-buyingmechanism and/or the negotiating room via Hypertext Markup Language(“HTML”) documents, Dynamic Hypertext Mark-Up Language (“DHTML”)documents, Extensible Mark-Up Language (“XML”) documents, and/or othersimilar formats over an electronic network, such as the World Wide Web.A remote computing system associated with the on-line group-buyingmechanism and/or the negotiating room may further utilize protocols suchas SNMP, TCP/IP, and UDP/IP in order to send instructions and otherwisecommunicate with various other components of an on-line group-buyingmechanism and/or the negotiating room. The on-line group-buyingmechanism system and/or negotiating room may operate with protocols andlanguages in addition to those specifically disclosed herein. Similarly,the on-line group-buying mechanism and/or negotiating room may bedeveloped using an object-oriented programming methodology or using anyother programming methodology that results in a computing system havingequivalent functionality.

Embodiments of the invention have been discussed in terms of computerprograms but is equally applicable for systems utilizing hardware thatperforms similar functions, such as application specific integratedcircuits (“ASICs”).

An ordinary artisan should require no additional explanation indeveloping the methods and systems described herein but may neverthelessfind some possibly helpful guidance in the preparation of these methodsand systems by examining standard reference works in the relevant art.

All U.S. patents and applications are incorporated herein by referenceas if set forth in their entirety.

Embodiments of the invention has been discussed in terms ofproducts/services offered for sale by an on-line group-buying mechanismand/or via a negotiating room. Of course, other embodiments of theinvention are application to the sales of goods/services using otherbusiness methods, including but not limited to the sale of goods byauction.

These and other changes can be made to the invention in light of theabove detailed description. In general, in the following claims, theterms used should not be construed to limit the invention to thespecific embodiments disclosed in the specification and the claims, butshould be construed to include all electronic commerce methods andsystems that operate under the claims set forth herein below.Accordingly, the invention is not limited by the disclosure, but insteadits scope is to be determined entirely by the following claims.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A non-transitory computer-readable mediumstoring executable instructions that, when executed, cause a computer toperform operations for an on-line group-buying sale, comprising:providing communication support for a plurality of on-line group-buyingsales in a negotiating room; conducting a first on-line group-buyingsale of a featured item in association with the negotiating room,wherein the featured item includes products and/or services; providing aflash demand curve for the featured item using hypothetical offersreceived from the first on-line group-buying sale; providing a saledemand curve associated with the flash demand curve; and conducting asecond on-line group-buying sale of the featured item using the saledemand curve.
 2. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1,storing further executable instructions that, when executed, cause thecomputer to perform further operations comprising: conducting a thirdon-line group-buying sale in association with the negotiating room; andproviding another flash demand curve for the featured item usinghypothetical offers received from the third on-line group-buying sale;and wherein the sale demand curve is further associated with the anotherflash demand curve.
 3. The non-transitory computer readable medium ofclaim 2, storing further executable instructions that, when executed,cause the computer to perform further operations comprising: modifyingthe featured item during the third on-line group-buying sale to includeat least another product and/or service; and receiving an identificationof the products and/or services included in the featured item for thesecond on-line group-buying sale before conducting the second on-linegroup-buying sale.
 4. The non-transitory computer readable medium ofclaim 1, storing further executable instructions that, when executed,cause the computer to perform further operations comprising: providinganother flash demand curve for the featured item associated with thesecond on-line group-buying sale; initiating the second on-linegroup-buying sale before the first on-line group-buying sale; andreplacing the another flash demand curve with the sale demand curve. 5.The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, storing furtherexecutable instructions that, when executed, cause the computer toperform further operations comprising: providing at least onecommunication via the negotiation room; and wherein the first on-linegroup-buying sale includes a second featured item.
 6. The non-transitorycomputer readable medium of claim 1, storing further executableinstructions that, when executed, cause the computer to perform furtheroperations comprising: storing the flash demand curve in a datarepository.
 7. A system for selling featured items, comprising: aprocessor; and a memory configured to communicate with the processor,the memory including instructions stored thereon that, when executed,cause the processor to perform operations comprising: providingcommunication support for a plurality of on-line group-buying sales in anegotiating room; conducting a first on-line group-buying sale of afeatured item in association with the negotiating room, wherein thefeatured item includes products and/or services; providing a flashdemand curve for the featured item using hypothetical offers receivedfrom the first on-line group-buying sale; providing a sale demand curveassociated with the flash demand curve; and conducting a second on-linegroup-buying sale of the featured item using the sale demand curve anegotiating room stored on a computer readable medium and configured toconduct an on-line group-buying sale of featured items, wherein thenegotiating room comprises a voting mechanism configured to calculate atleast one flash demand curve for the featured items using offers; and anon-line group-buying mechanism stored on a computer readable medium andconfigured to facilitate a sale of the featured items using a saledemand curve developed from the at least one flash demand curve.
 8. Thesystem of claim 7, wherein the negotiating room further comprises: amessage receiver and transmitter configured to receive communicationswherein at least some of the communications include the hypotheticaloffers for the featured items.
 9. The system of claim 7, wherein theon-line group-buying mechanism begins selling the featured items usingan initial demand curve before the on-line group-buying sale in thenegotiating room begins, the system further comprising: a sellerrepresentative stored on a computer readable medium and configured tosend an instruction to the on-line group-buying mechanism to replace theinitial demand curve with the sale demand curve.
 10. A non-transitorycomputer-readable medium storing executable instructions that, whenexecuted, cause a computer to execute data processing, comprising:determining demand for a featured item during an on-line group-buyingsale; conducting a first on-line group-buying sale associated with anegotiating room; providing at least one flash demand curve for thefeatured item using hypothetical offers received from the first on-linegroup-buying sale; providing the at least one flash demand curve tocreate a sale demand curve for the featured item; and initiating asecond on-line group-buying sale of the featured item using the saledemand curve.
 11. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim1, wherein the hypothetical offers received from the first on-linegroup-buying sale are irrevocable purchase offers.
 12. Thenon-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein thehypothetical offers received from the first on-line group-buying saleinclude revocable purchase offers.
 13. The non-transitory computerreadable medium of claim 1, comprising further executable instructionsthat, when executed, cause the computer to perform further operationscomprising providing an a second hypothetical offer for another featureditem, wherein the flash demand curve includes an indication of thesecond hypothetical offer.
 14. The non-transitory computer readablemedium of claim 1, wherein the hypothetical offers comprise real-timeoffers.
 15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1,comprising further executable instructions that, when executed, causethe computer to perform further operations comprising continuouslyupdating the flash demand curve.
 16. The non-transitory computerreadable medium of claim 1, comprising further executable instructionsthat, when executed, cause the computer to perform further operationscomprising updating the flash demand curve at predetermined timeintervals.
 17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1,wherein the flash demand curve depicts a demand for the featured itemamong a group of prospective buyers within a predetermined time period.18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, comprisingfurther executable instructions that, when executed, cause the computerto perform further operations comprising modifying a price of thefeatured item in the second on-line group-buying sale.
 19. Thenon-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, comprising furtherexecutable instructions that, when executed, cause the computer toperform further operations comprising including an additional item withthe featured item in the second on-line group-buying sale.
 20. Thenon-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the saledemand curve comprises completed sales of the at least one of arevocable or irrevocable offer received from the first on-linegroup-buying sale.
 21. The computer readable medium of claim 1, furthercomprising converting the hypothetical offers to at least one of arevocable or irrevocable offer.